Rebel Yell
by NecessaryEvil87
Summary: Damon has people chained up in the Boarding House basement, Caroline is coming to grips with her new life, Jeremy is missing, and Klaus is raising up an army. Where will they go from here.
1. I Always Kill The Things I Love

Rebel Yell: Chapter 1: I Always Kill The Things I Love

Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries. I'm not making money off of writing this.

AN: I'm not sure which parts of this I'm happy with and which I'm not at this point, but I'm sure I'll come to a conclusion at some point in the near future. This is mostly set up and takes place more or less right after the second season finale.

Enjoy.

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><p>Vicky was dragging him towards the woods. He hadn't seen Anna since they had left the house, he had no idea where she was, and Vicky wasn't saying anything to him. He was pretty sure she was hungry. The feeling was coming off of her in waves. He didn't even know what <em>that <em>meant, but he knew it was true. Vicky was hungry and speeding them through the woods and he couldn't stop himself from remembering what it had said in Elena's journal about the last time he had seen Vicky.

But he still couldn't bring himself to believe that she would hurt him. Not now. Even as she was dragging him through the woods, the veins beneath her eyes pulsating, her fangs bared, and a low growl escaping her throat, Jeremy knew that Vicky wasn't going to hurt him.

He heard them before he saw them. He had been too focused on his thoughts to notice that flickering light appearing over the rise, but it was hard to miss the sound of the pack of rabid teenagers partying in the middle of the eerily quiet woods. His eyes shot up and he spotted the fire, the beer cans strewn everywhere, the telltale wisps of smoke, and the group of kids just a little older than himself dancing around the scene.

His eyes fell on a girl right in the middle of the action. Her eyes were closed. Her mind obviously lost to the world. Her arms twining above her head, seemingly providing some offering to unseen spirits or gods, or just needing to be free of the constraints of her arms at her sides. He knew Vicky was watching her too. Knew that she was thinking about how once upon a time this girl had been her.

No, Jeremy _knew_ that Vicky wasn't going to hurt him.

She was going to hurt somebody else.

* * *

><p>Damon knew she was there before she had entered his room, but he didn't bother to shift from his position in bed. The cure had set in, but he was still tired, still ached in places that hadn't ached since he was human, and he knew that, if he had to exert himself, he'd never be able to cover up how weak he was. So he lay there and he waited.<p>

The knob turned, the door opened and he heard footsteps entering the room. The steps were light, if he had been human he might not have even heard them, but they were there and he couldn't hold back the smirk that spread over his lips. Was she actually trying to pull off a silent entry?

"Hello, Liz," Damon didn't even bother to open his eyes.

Sheriff Forbes paused, still standing in the doorway, and looked warily at the vampire laying very still in his bed in his bedroom in the dark.

"You come to try to kill me?" he asked and then added as an afterthought, "Again?"

"No."

"What do you want?"

Liz stood in awkward silence, unable to look directly at the vampire lounging comfortably in the bed in front of her.

Damon sighed.

"Our vervaine supply is-" Damon's bark of laughter interrupted the Sheriff's speech.

"I'm sorry. That must be very inconvenient for you. Did all that running around sticking needles in me and my friends, convincing busboys to do espionage work on your daughter for you, and not bothering to deal with the real problems," Damon finally opened his eyes and looked at the Sheriff, "Did that all deplete your supply?"

"I-,"

"I've been stabbed by your deputies and dragged off to die twice. Do you want to know what will deplete your drug supply real fast?"

"It's not a-"

"You buy it on the sly, take it regularly, mix it in with your tea or coffee or juice or dot dot dot so that nobody will ask any questions about it, you wear the paraphernalia, it has an effect on how your mind would normally operate, and it has harmful side effects that present themselves in a percentage of the community. I'm your dealer, Liz. I have the only supply in the area and I bet you've already figured out that I've hidden it pretty well. So back to the question at hand. Do you want to know what will deplete your drug supply _really_ fast?"

"Damon-,"

"No. Stop. I'm your friend, Liz. I've been your friend. You've been a threat for so very long, longer than I've had someone to convince me to keep you, specifically, alive, but I haven't killed you. As I mentioned before, you've tried to kill me twice and yet most of the time I still like you." Damon laughed, "You have spunk..."

"Caroline has been telling me about you," Liz said softly before Damon could continue, "I'm not going to be coming after you anymore, Damon. I believe her when she says she's my daughter. I believe her when she say you're my friend. She says you've been looking out for her. She says she wouldn't be alive if it weren't for you."

"And _clearly_ she's been abridging that story," Damon chuckled, "If that's what you're backing off to let me do, you should probably know that I'm probably not going to be able to do that anymore, Liz."

"Why not?"

"You're finally bonding with your daughter, Liz. Caroline is never going to leave willingly now, I can't afford to drag an unwilling vampire around with me on the road, and I clearly can't stay here. I was pretty out of it, but I'm pretty sure I remember you bringing a couple of deputies along to wrangle me. My choices are compel them, kill them, go to ground, or skip town and my wardrobe would SO not survive living in the woods." Damon's eyes widened dramatically as he made the last statement.

"You could compel them. You compelled me to forget before," Liz said hopefully.

"Vervain," Damon said simply, "We locked you up for three days, had you call in with the flu."

"I'm the one they call in sick to," Liz said sadly, "Neither of them have families in Mystic Falls."

Damon looked at her for a moment before silently nodding.

Liz turned to leave, but stopped at the door.

"Thank you," she started quietly, "For Caroline."

Damon chuckled, "I made her a promise. I'm not going to break it."

Liz turned to leave again, but Damon's voice called her back.

"The vervain is in a room behind a bookshelf in my blood supply room. Caroline will show you where. Take a bushel. Try using it on me again and I might rethink our friendship," Damon smirked and then closed his eyes.

He heard Liz leave the room.

He knew she was there before she had entered the room. She was silent as the grave, but he would always know when she was there. He didn't move as he felt the bed shifting under her weight. He didn't move when he felt her staring at his firmly shut eyelids. He just lay there, taking in her presence and waiting. Finally she was the one to speak first.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"Going to be more specific, Barbie?" he asked, amusement that wasn't really there seeming to seep into his voice.

Caroline huffed and he felt the bed shift again as she readjusted herself so that she was sitting with her back against his headboard and her arms crossed defiantly across her chest.

"Don't be a jerk, Damon."

"That lasted all of three seconds," he muttered attempting to keep the smile from his face.

"I'm sorry that I nearly got you killed," she began and then nearly in a whisper continued, "And that I wasn't there for you when you were going through it."

"Want to make it up to me?" Damon asked with a smirk.

"No sex," she replied immediately.

"Good to know what you've got on your mind," Damon laughed, "But I was going to ask you to stop trying to get yourself killed. I've got a promise to keep."

Caroline frowned.

"I heard you mentioning that to my mom. You never promised me that you'd keep me safe."

"Mmhmm," was all he said.

She stared at him for a moment and then whispered something under her breath. Something from a long forgotten memory.

"Are you going to kill me?"

* * *

><p>He's pretty sure that he's going to have to move. Somewhere. Anywhere. Even beyond the number of vampires that have been invited into his apartment now, it just feels...tainted. Tainted and empty and not like it's his home anymore.<p>

Alaric remembered the last time he had lost someone that he cared about. He couldn't have spent enough time alone, buried in his work, not thinking about anything except finding the woman he loved, finding the thing that had taken her from him, finding something.

This time was different. This time he just knew that he couldn't be alone. It wasn't in him anymore. He needed to be around the people who knew him. Jeremy and Elena and Bonnie and hell even Damon. He needed a connection.

So he pulled open a closet and found the boxes that he had used to move in and started to unfold them and pack his things away in them. It might be a little too painful, at this point, to move into the Gilbert home, but he knew he had other options. The Salvatore home, after all, was a Boarding House by design and he was sure that, even with Stefan gone, Damon would be willing to cede him one of the extra rooms. If Klaus' invasion of his apartment over the last weeks had taught him anything it was that he spent more time at the Boarding House than in his apartment anyway.

It was as he was putting the last of his clothes into a box and getting ready to call Damon, that his cell began to ring. He didn't recognize the number, but when he answered it with a tentative "hello?" he recognized the voice on the other end of the line.

"Ric. The bodies. I think she buried the bodies under...,"

"Jeremy?"

"It's nothing. I'm fine," came the reply and then the line cut out.

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><p>The excited energy of his pack was palpable and Ray didn't like it one bit. When the new wolf had walked into camp and introduced himself, with that smug British accent, as Nicholas, Ray had felt his hackles rising. Something about this man just struck him as totally and completely wrong on some primal level.<p>

And then Nicholas had changed.

In the daylight.

A week away from the full moon.

The pack was pawing all over this new miracle wolf, who claimed that he knew how to give the same power to all of them. Ray didn't like it one bit. He had the horrible suspicion that soon they were all going to die.


	2. Within A Mile of Home

Chapter 2: Within A Mile of Home

Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries. I'm not making money off of writing this.

AN: I'm not sure how I feel about this. Again. There are places I'm pretty sure I'm happier with than I was with the previous chapter, but there definitely places that I'm...

Anyway. Sorry for the wait. Thanks for the reviews. On with the show.

Enjoy.

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><p>The room was red. Every wall, every surface, the particles of dust that floated in the thin wisps of sunlight, the bodies arranged haphazardly along the red stone floor, even Stefan himself all were coated in fine but solid layer of red. And it was glorious. Stefan spun around gleefully his arms spread wide, his face to the ceiling, his mouth wide open catching stray particles of blood, while he listened to an unfamiliar sound coming from his own throat and he could swear that it was the sound of him purring.<p>

Stefan heard footsteps outside, but continued his dance around the room, hypnotized by the flecks of blood on his tongue. So much blood.

The door opened and a shaft of sunlight streamed through into the room causing three of the bodies nearest the doorway to burst into flames. Stefan let out a full-throated laugh and darted over to the door as Greta strode through the open doorway.

Stefan continued to laugh as he danced in the dusty stream of sunlight, stomping down on the remnants of the corpses that had once been there. Suddenly his face fell and he cocked his head to the side thoughtfully.

"I think that was one of my favorites," he said softly.

A growl barely had time to make its way past his lips before he had Greta pinned to the wall and was leaning down to her throat to drain her dry. The witch rolled her eyes and Stefan found that his head was suddenly in incredible pain. His entire body was preparing to buckle under him, but a voice was screaming in his head that if he could only get to the blood he would feel so much better.

Stefan leaned in and his fangs pierced Greta's throat. Blood began to flow past his lip, but, just as the first drop was reaching his throat, he found hands grabbing him by the top and bottom of jaw and suddenly his mouth was wrenched open and he was thrown across the floor.

"Down, Stefan. Bad boy," came the amused drawl as Klaus strode over to stand over Stefan, shaking his finger scoldingly.

"That was one of my favorites," Stefan half whined, half growled.

"In that case, you shouldn't have left it uncovered," Klaus laughed, "And by the door, no less."

"There are fifty here," Greta spoke.

Klaus nodded and looked over the room appraisingly.

"Mostly women," Greta continued.

Klaus chuckled and rolled his eyes, "Stefan, darling, you mustn't be so discriminating. I'm as partial to the female form as you, but we do have use for bulk right now."

"One of my favorites," Stefan muttered.

* * *

><p>"This is Jackson and Hill on scene. There are signs of forced entry. Please advise."<p>

The radio crackled with static for a moment and Jackson felt that they were utterly alone and cut off. The feeling didn't last long and then the Sheriff's voice came clearly over the set.

"Enter at will, but proceed with caution. You don't know what we're looking at."

"Understood."

Deputy Jackson took point. The inside of the warehouse was dim, the only illumination provided by the security lamps outside. He could hear Deputy Hill behind him, his breaths coming in slow even sighs, his boots tapping rhythmically against the stone floor. As his own breathing fell into synch with his partner's, Jackson let his mind wander over the little information they had been given going in; suspected abduction, white male suspect, in his mid-twenties, dark hair, approximately six foot, presumably in possession of a crowbar or something of similar use, white female victim, teen, blonde, in the high fives, possibly subdued, possible hostage.

A clattering noise sounded at the far end of the warehouse. Jackson leveled his gun and flashlight on where he thought the sound must have come from and he caught the tail end of a shadow moving further into the darkness. Jackson tried to follow it with the beam of his flashlight, but whoever or whatever had moved was out of sight.

Deputy Hill tapped Jackson on the shoulder and gestured towards a far corner of the building and cupped his ear. Jackson nodded and kept his light pointed low as he made his way in the direction Hill had indicated. His view of the corner was blocked by a column, but he could hear something moving along the floor on the other side of the column.

Jackson gestured to Hill that he should go around the right side of the column, while he made his way around the left side. Jackson paused before rounding the final edge of the column, listening for any change in the movement and counting off so that he would be synchronized with Hill. They both rounded their sides of the column at the same time, raising their guns and flashlights as they went.

A blonde girl squealed and backed herself into the corner of the room faster than Jackson could follow, her back pressed firmly against the wall, the palms of her hands spread slightly against the wall, her eyes wide. Jackson didn't recognize her at first, but it took less than a second for Hill to speak her name.

"Caroline?"

Caroline's eyes darted to Hill upon hearing her name. Jackson lowered his gun slightly and he noticed out of the corner of his eye that Hill was doing likewise, the beam of his flashlight bouncing slightly as he brought it out of Caroline's eyes.

"Caroline, sweetie," Jackson started, "We need you to tell us where he is."

Caroline's eyes darted behind Jackson's back and then widened even more. Jackson spun, bringing his gun into position as he turned. There was nothing there. He swept the light across the room, but there was no one there. He turned back to where Caroline was, but his and Hill's beams shown on an empty wall.

"Hill, where'd she go?" he hissed out the side of his mouth.

There was no response.

Jackson turned and found that Hill's flashlight was laying on the ground, but there was no other sign of Hill himself.

"Hill?"

The sound of feet scraping over the stone floor. Jackson spun around and his light once again fell upon the Sheriff's daughter. She was standing as she had been before, but without a wall to her back as she had been before. Jackson suddenly realized. She was ready to pounce.

She must have seen the shock on his face, because she whispered, "I'm sorry."

Her eyes rose to look behind him again, but, before he could turn to see what she was looking at, a hand clamped down over his mouth and everything went black.

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><p>"Explain to me again why I had to be there," Caroline said as he slammed the bolt on the cell door shut.<p>

He turned to look at her and found her leaning against the doorway to the blood storage room with her arms crossed over her chest an expectant look on her face. Damon couldn't help chuckling at the sight.

She glared back at him.

"You were the bait," he smirked.

"I thought you were the bait," she said, "Weren't they going in there to catch _you_?"

Damon shrugged.

"And why did you do that whole horror movie slash Batman: Arkham Asylum thing?"

Damon raised an eyebrow, "A _what_ thing?"

Caroline rolled her eyes, "Arkham Asylum. You know, Batman sneaks past the bad guys a couple times, scaring the bejeebus out of them and then he takes them out from behind."

"'Bejeebus'?" Damon laughed, "Who says 'Bejeebus'?"

"That's beside the point, Damon." Caroline huffed, stomping one of her feet.

"No. That is definitely on the point. It's on the point so hard that the point should consider pressing sexual assault charges. It is...,"

Caroline walked out of the basement without saying another word.

"Is 'bejeebus' even a word?" Damon called after her.

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><p>Jeremy found himself sat against a tree. He was in a clearing and it was daytime and a few feet away there was a campsite that had been totally trashed. What probably had been a campfire at some point had been scattered across the clearing, there were a couple of tents that had been torn and snapped and had stains on them that he was pretty sure were blood, and this all easily drew his attention from the beer cans that were scattered everywhere.<p>

There weren't any bodies in the clearing, but Jeremy knew that there had been. He didn't remember everything that had happened, but he remembered when Vicky started tearing into the campers. The memory alone makes him want to vomit a little bit and the sudden realization that he has the taste of blood in his mouth doesn't help the feeling.

He pats down his pockets looking for his phone, but before he's moved past the first pair, he spots his phone lying in the dirt a few feet away. It's been completely trashed. Jeremy rolls his eyes.

"Of course," he says and his voice sounds hoarse.

He pushes himself off the ground and starts to stumble in a direction that might as well be the direction home. He wasn't really paying close enough attention when Vicky was dragging him out here the night before and he had absolutely no idea where he was, but if he walked in a direction long enough he was pretty sure he'd run into _something_ he recognized.

"That's probably not the best idea," Anna's voice sounded out from behind him and he turned around and found her sitting where he had been sitting just a moment before.

"You're thinking of going home," she continued, "Vicky is still hiding out here and she's definitely going to show up wherever you go."

Jeremy just gave Anna a look.

"Do you really want to risk this," Anna gestured to the campsite, "Happening to Elena or Jenna?"

Jeremy flinched.

"Jenna's dead," he whispered.

Anna's eyes widened, "I'm sorry."

Jeremy remained silent for a minute and then he spoke so quietly that he knew if Anna weren't a vampire she wouldn't hear it at all, "You're dead."

"I'm feeling this isn't really the time for an 'I told you so,'"she said, "but you do know that your uncle was the one who did that, right?"

Jeremy nodded, "He's dead too."

Anna smiled wanly and then just looked sympathetic.

"Everyone keeps dying on you, don't they?" she said.

"It's really good to see you," Jeremy smiled, his eyes watering up.

Before he could blink to get the tears out of his eyes, Anna had pushed herself up, had made her way over to him, and had wrapped him up in a tight hug.

"It's good to see you too, Jer," she whispered, "I'm not going anywhere."

* * *

><p>Tyler had fucked up before. He knew that. Caroline had explained to him in great detail exactly what he had done wrong. It hadn't been a short list. So this time he was going to try to do it right.<p>

He walked up to the door and knocked. With his werewolf hearing he could just barely hear someone moving in the house, so he didn't knock a second time. He just waited.

The door opened and Sheriff Forbes was standing before him, brow furrowed and her lips pulled tight.

"Tyler," she nodded.

"Sheriff," he responded politely, "is Caroline here?"

"Damon gave me an entire garbage bag full of wolf's bane," the Sheriff said shortly.

Tyler flinched.

"He has a whole list of bad things to say about you," she smiled, "If you hurt my daughter again, he will kill you."

Tyler nodded, "I know."

"And I'll probably help him," she said, "Keep that in mind."

Sheriff Forbes stepped out of the way and Tyler entered the house. As the Sheriff closed the door behind him, Tyler visibly flinched again.

"I think Caroline is in her room," the Sheriff said, "It's gotten harder to tell. If she is, then she already knows that you're here."

"Thank you, Sheriff."

"A whole garbage bag, Tyler," Sheriff Forbes said with a quirk of her lips that instantly reminded him that she was related to Caroline.

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><p>Caroline had heard the whole conversation between her mom and Tyler, but honestly she was too happy that her mom was sticking up for her too even worry about how her friend must feel about her mother's lukewarm welcome.<p>

Tyler knocked on her door fairly quickly after her mother dismissed him, but she took her time getting to the door. Vampire speed was all well and good, but honestly there was just something about making people wait that gave human speed that twinge of fun. The feel of having control.

Tyler looked like a guilty puppy when she opened the door and she rolled her eyes at that. They were friends. Fine. But that didn't mean that he didn't piss her off sometimes. She still had trouble overlooking the fact that he had abandoned her twice before and she just knew by the look on his face that he had come here to tell her that he was about to do it again.

"You're leaving," she said simply.

Tyler looked surprised, but she just rolled her eyes at his reaction. He was so predictable. Had he always been this predictable. She knew that it hadn't been all that long ago that he had been a total jerk, but had he been one of those really predictable jerks that just...yeah, probably. And now he was a wounded puppy, but he was still a predictable wounded puppy.

"I'm alone here, Caroline," he began and Caroline rolled her eyes, "Wolves are pack animals and I don't have a pack."

"So you're going back to Florida?" Caroline chirped.

"No, I heard some rumors about a pack a couple of days north of here," he said, "I'm going to check that out."

Caroline snorted.

"And if that doesn't pan out, I'll keep looking for a little while. Maybe start my own pack," Tyler's eyes began to light up, "I can't be the only wolf out there that didn't have anyone to help him through all this."

Caroline's eyes hardened. Tyler noticed and tried to fix things with a quick;

"Either way, I'll never let them hurt you again."

Caroline's eyes remained cold, but a smirk turned up the corner of her mouth.

"A whole garbage bag, Tyler," she said coldly, "And that's just my mom's stash."

* * *

><p>Deputy Jackson woke up on the floor of a cell. He looked over towards the wall and he spotted Deputy Hill sprawled haphazardly on a cot that had been pushed up against the wall.<p>

"Hope you don't mind the floor for now," a voice called out from beyond the cell door, "You and your buddy can probably take the cot in shifts once he wakes up."

"Let us out," Jackson shouted.

"Nope," the voice popped the 'p' and then laughed.

The door opened just wide enough for a tray of food to be pushed through the crack and then once the tray had slid in, slopping a little bit of soup over the edge of a bowl and onto a piece of bread, the door shut solidly.

"Get comfortable," the voice called out again, "You're going to be here for a few days."


	3. Warning Signs

Chapter 3: Warning Signs

Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries. I'm not making money off of writing this.

AN: I paused halfway through writing this chapter and then when I picked back up again I had this feeling that my voice had shifted slightly. Tell me if you can spot where the switch is.

Hopefully the next chapter will take less time. It might be a little shorter as result, but I intend to get this moving along and I actually do have a plan going through my head for a good portion of this story.

Anyway. Sorry for the wait. Thanks for the reviews. On with the show.

Enjoy.

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><p>It took Caroline a few days to notice, but once she did it became painfully clear that Damon was still weak. He wasn't getting worse, he wasn't dying, but there were moments when she was sure that it was toss up which one of them would win in a fight. His hands were shaky, his reflexes were iffy, more than once she had caught a glimpse of his vampire visage peeking out at moments when he clearly wouldn't want it to, and he had been needing more blood than usual. She never talked about it. She was pretty sure that she was the only one who had noticed.<p>

The night that they had abducted the deputies, Damon had answered a call from Ric on the way to the Boarding House and when they had gotten there she found Ric moving his stuff into one of the bedrooms. That had been days ago and she was pretty sure that Ric _still_ hadn't figured it out.

Damon was sick. At best he had yet to recover. At worst he would spend the rest of his life a fraction of the vampire he had once been. All she could do was watch.

This bothered her and she couldn't for the life of her figure out why. Because it was Damon. Sure she had explained to her mother exactly how many times Damon had saved her life (five that came immediately to mind) and how Damon wasn't as evil as people made him out to be, but he had killed _so_ many people around her. He had tried to kill _her_. Twice! She remembered that when she had first transitioned she had given him a fairly impressive list of reasons that she should want him dead. Hell, the sweetest thing he had _ever_ said to her was that he was going kill her.

Basically, Damon was a jerk.

But, when Bonnie stormed into the Boarding House to tell Damon and Alaric that Jeremy was missing and Damon responded with a snide comment and Bonnie respond by giving him multiple aneurysms, Damon being a jerk didn't stop Caroline from getting him a bag of blood from the basement faster than either of them could blink. It didn't stop her from rubbing his back soothingly as he choked down the blood. It didn't stop her from glaring at Bonnie.

And it didn't stop _him_ from promising that he would find 'the little nuisance'.

* * *

><p>Jeremy was getting annoyingly used to being dragged around by his ex-girlfriends. After he had spent the whole of the previous day wandering the woods with Anna by his side, Vicky had arrived in the evening, nearly yanking him off of his feet and dragging him off in a completely new direction. She had found another group of raucous revelers in the vein of the ones she had found the night before, more of them this time and more out of it. However, Jeremy was surprised to see several repeat face from the last batch. Surprised until the mood turned. They sensed Vicky coming. The howled in anticipation, their eyes turning red, their fangs elongating, and the veins under their eyes pulsating.<p>

Vicky had turned them.

When had Vicky turned them?

As Vicky and her new friends fed on the drugged up revelers en mass, all Jeremy could do was sit and watch and wonder once again where Anna had gotten to.

He woke up the next morning and Vicky was gone again, as were her kin, and Anna was already dragging him through the woods before he had fully registered where he was. She had a destination in mind and the last few days had drilled into his head that when a vampire wanted him to go somewhere, he didn't really have a choice in the matter.

Anna was less talkative today. Less gentle. He remembered the meek little girl who had first approached him in the library what seemed forever ago. He had known for awhile now that she wasn't that girl, but it had never been quite as clear as it was now. She had him by the hand and was dragging him in a direction that he could only assume was east. If he happened the trip or stumble, she simply caught him and continued to pull him along behind her. He had the feeling that if he slowed her down anymore she was just going to pick him up and run with him.

She was getting impatient.

They had a time limit.

He had called out a few times to ask her where they were going, but she had only briefly glimpsed back at him before returning her attention to the task at hand. With a sigh he thought that he was grateful that at least that task didn't seem to include slaughtering campers.

* * *

><p>"Call Judgy," Damon said as he lost the scent for what felt like the hundredth time, "I swear to god his scent keeps cutting out."<p>

Caroline shot Damon a concerned look as she pulled out her phone and called Bonnie's number.

"Did you find him?" were Bonnie's first words when she picked up.

"Damon lost the scent again," Caroline frowned and took a sniff herself before finishing with an odd mix of worry and relief, "So did I."

"I'll try the locator spell again," Bonnie sighed.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," Damon murmured under his breath and Caroline shot him a look.

She watched his face as he leaned against a nearby tree. His face had been looking a little bit drawn for a few hours now. He had been slowing down. He needed blood. She knew it. He knew it. And she was pretty sure that they had both considered snapping up the next bunny that happened by and using it tide him over. Hell a squirrel would probably even be welcome at this point.

His cellphone rang at the same time that Bonnie's voice dragged Caroline away from her reverie. Damon looked down at the caller ID and picked up the phone with a forced smile.

"What's up, Liz."

"Caroline!" came Bonnie's exasperated voice over Caroline's cell.

"What?" Caroline asked, trying to focus now on _not _listening in on Damon's phone call.

"Jeremy's signal is sputtering. It's like he's there and then he's somewhere else and there's no in between."

"Vampire speed?" Caroline asked, her voice coming off a little distracted.

"I thought of that. I don't know," Bonnie said.

"I haven't been off bag in months, Liz,"Damon's voice broke through Caroline's concentration again.

"Can you give us a direction at least?" Caroline said, forcing herself to stay on topic.

"Where are you guys?" Bonnie asked.

Caroline looked around. She hadn't really been paying much attention to where they were going, paying more attention to following Damon and to a lesser extent the scent of Jeremy.

"I'll ask," Damon said before turning to her, "Barbie?"

"Bonnie hold on a minute," Caroline said before turning her attention back to Damon, "What?"

"Have you killed anyone recently, Barbie?" Damon asked with a smirk.

"Nope," she replied.

Damon pulled the phone back to his ear and said, "She says no. Should I try beating the truth out of her?"

If Caroline strained her hearing she could make out her mother's voice, "Just keep an eye out, Damon."

"Mmkay," Damon hung up the phone, "Mommy dearest says 'hello.'"

"Liar," Caroline whispered.

Damon looked at her and then glanced at where she still held her phone in her hand. Caroline followed his gaze and then jumped a little bit as she remember what was going on.

"Where are we?" she asked.

"About a mile south-east of the cemetery," he answered shortly.

"Did you hear that," Caroline asked raising the phone to her ear.

"Head north," Bonnie said, "it's probably not exact, but it's a direction."

"Does Elena know about this," Damon asked suddenly.

Caroline shrugged. She had already heard the phone line cut out.

* * *

><p>It was a house. Small, woodsy, a little bit rundown, but it was a house and it was nice and it seemed like Anna was finally starting to slow down, which added a little bit of charm to the whole thing in Jeremy's opinion.<p>

Anna opened the door and Jeremy expected her to freeze at the threshold, but she just kept going and he followed after her. There were two bodies in the entryway, stakes through their hearts, grey skin and veins.

"No one has even moved them," Anna whispered.

Jeremy looked down at the faces. One of them, the one closest to him, he recognized as Anna's mother. He watched as Anna knelt down next to her mother's body and smoothed back her hair. A small chunk came off in her hand, still attached to a piece of skin. Jeremy was at Anna's side faster than he could think about it. He held her as she broke down, rocking the both of them back and forth, he whispered softly into her hair.

It didn't really matter what he was saying.

* * *

><p>"Sit down, Damon," Caroline said softly.<p>

"I think I'm smelling vampire," Damon said absentmindedly, not even pausing in his stride.

"Damon!" Caroline called out in frustration.

"I'm getting eau de baby Gilbert too, but I'm pretty sure I'm getting vampire too," Damon continued, just narrowly avoiding tripping over an overturned tree.

"Damon!" Caroline shouted, "Sit!"

Damon froze for a moment before plopping down onto the tree he had nearly tripped over. Caroline rushed forward and joined him on the seat, just as it struck Damon what had just happened. He turned to look at her stonily.

"Did you just tell me to sit?" he said evenly, "Like a dog?"

"And it worked," Caroline chirped, "Now stay."

Damon glared at her, but she just smirked back at him. He sighed and adjusted himself so that he was laying back on the tree with his fingers entwined behind his head.

He kept his eyes on the sky woody canopy as he spoke softly, "How long have you known?"

"No idea what you're talking about," Caroline said quickly.

Damon grinned, "Thanks."

* * *

><p>Damon and Caroline pushed their way into the clearing and when Damon looked up and saw where they were he groaned.<p>

"What?" Caroline asked.

"It had to be here," Damon groaned again.

Before Caroline could inquire further, Jeremy walked out of the house in the middle of the clearing and furtively looked around the clearing before turning to Damon and rolling his eyes.

"You couldn't have gotten here before sundown?" he sniped.

Caroline looked at the skyline and, sure enough, the last beams of sunlight were disappearing from the sky. Why that had any significance she had no idea, but there it was, sunset.

Jeremy's posture shifted quickly and then he growled as his fangs extended and his eyes shifted. Before Damon or Caroline could do anything Jeremy rushed at Damon with his hand extended towards his neck. Caroline sped in between them and threw Jeremy to the side. Jeremy pushed himself up from where he had landed and glared at them, but then he simply sped away.

"What the hell?" Damon shouted.

* * *

><p>Stefan and Klaus strode to the center of the aisle of the church and knelt next to each other on the floor, their hands held up their faces. The church was filled to capacity. Stefan didn't know how Klaus had arranged that, but it didn't really matter to him. He slowly counted out the seconds and then he felt Klaus standing up beside him.<p>

"Bless me father for I have sinned," Klaus shouted to the rafters, his arms raised to either side of his head, "and will soon be doing so again."

Klaus turned to look upon the closest members of the congregation and revealed his vampire visage. The young woman screamed as did several other people. As each member of the church spotted Klaus' face and the similar one that Stefan was allowing to slip onto his face as he stood as well, they began rushing to the doors.

The first members of the congregation to reach the door found that the door was sealed. Greta had seen to that, magically sealing everyone in. Klaus and Stefan had the entire church to themselves.

Klaus motioned slightly with his hand and Stefan flitted over to the nearest person and sank his teeth into their neck, letting blood spurt out and reveling in the taste of it spraying down his throat.


	4. Rag Doll

Chapter 4: Rag Doll

Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries. I'm not making money off of writing this.

AN: I was looking through leaked info from the upcoming season of Vampire Diaries earlier and realized that I named the head of the werewolf pack the same as Kevin Williamson has named the upcoming werewolf character played by David Gallagher. Coincidence? Yup. Unless they did what I did and named him after the guy that went with Bonnie to the dance in the first book. Yes I have started reading the books. Bweh.

Anyway. Sorry for the wait. Thanks for the reviews. On with the show.

Enjoy.

* * *

><p>"He was definitely human when he went into the house," Damon said, "So there's going to be someone inside. Possibly a body."<p>

"Damon," Caroline said softly.

"We're going to have to clean it up," Damon continued without pause, "You should call Judgy, Ric, and Elena."

"Damon?" Caroline repeated slightly more loudly.

"Warn them that they should be careful if they see him," Damon was making his way towards the house, "I killed the owner the last time I was here, so we should be able to get in."

"Damon!" Caroline shouted.

"What!" Damon spun around and glowered down at Caroline, "'Damon!' what?"

"Are you okay?" Caroline asked only slightly more softly.

"Why wouldn't I be alright?" Damon asked quickly.

"Well, for one thing, you're talking like me," Caroline smirked, "And for another you haven't blinked since Jeremy left."

Damon didn't respond. He simply turned around and continued walking towards the house. He pushed the door open and looked down on the forms of the dead vampires on the floor and stopped. Caroline stopped right behind him and looked over his shoulder.

Damon bent down next to Pearl and pulled the stake out of her chest and placed it gently on the floor next to her. As he knelt there examining her lifeless face he used his vampire hearing to listen for anyone else in the house. No one was there.

"Did you know her?" Caroline asked softly.

Damon nodded.

"She was one of the Tomb Vampires," he said softly, "She dug my eyes out with her thumbs once."

"Oh," Caroline said.

"She didn't deserve this," Damon said.

"Damon?"

"Call Judgy and Ric. I'm going to search the house," Damon said and then walked away.

* * *

><p>Bonnie was already staring at her phone when it began ringing, flashing Caroline's name across the screen. It took her a moment to process what was happening and then she pressed the answer key and brought the phone to her head with a fake smile plastered to her face.<p>

"Should I pull my maps out again, Care?"

"Bonnie," Caroline sighed, "Bonnie, we found him."

"Is he okay?" Bonnie rushed out.

"If you see him, don't invite him in," Caroline said softly.

"Care?" Bonnie's voice sounded desperate to her own ears.

"We don't know how it happened, but he was so fast," Caroline went on, "And Damon couldn't catch him. He tried."

"Give me the phone," Bonnie heard Damon's voice coming harshly from the other end of the line, "Judgy, he wasn't a vampire when he came into this house and there isn't a trace of blood here. The only bodies we found are vampire corpses from four months ago."

"Damon?" Bonnie started.

"Yes?" his voice became softer.

"Shut up," Bonnie said firmly.

"Something isn't right about this, Judgy," Damon said.

"Damon-,"Bonnie began.

"Yes, I know. Nothing is right about this. I get that, but something isn't _right_ about this," Damon interrupted, "And I need you and Ric to look into it."

Bonnie hung up the phone.

* * *

><p>Deputy Finley Jackson didn't bother to have a social life. He had once, he couldn't even count how many years ago, but for good part of his adult life he had been all about the job. When first became a deputy it had been fairly boring to pull over drunk teenagers or write reports on the stray burglary, but after a few years he was noticed. Sheriff Jerome Forbes had pulled him aside and he'd taken him to the shooting range and then he'd taken him hunting and then he'd run him through combat and evasion training and then after years he had told him about vampires.<p>

Jackson had been twenty-five years old.

These days The Council referred to him as a V5 Deputy, back in the day it had just been him and Sheriff Forbes. They had been vampire hunters. They had tracked down and slain hundreds of vampires in the surrounding counties. Never in Mystic Falls. There were never any vampires in Mystic Falls.

Only that wasn't true was it. "Animal attacks" and missing persons and then the vampires at the Founder's Day Festival and now here he was locked in a cell with partner. He knew who had put him here. He recognized the cell. The last time he had been here he had found it.

He had also noticed how close the latch was to the door's peep hole. It had taken him forever and Hill had been hissing at him to stop the whole time, but he had finally maneuvered his hand so that he could grab the latch and pull it open.

"Told you," Jackson smirked, "Now shush."

With that Jackson led Hill out of the cell.

* * *

><p>Elena had spent most of the last year on the edge of terrified, but this was different. She checked the door as she pulled out her phone and peeked out the window as she dialed. Yup, still there.<p>

"Elena? What is it?" Damon's voice came from the other end of the line.

"Something is happening with Jeremy," the words were heavy coming out of Elena's mouth.

"You didn't invite him in did you," she could actually hear Damon glaring at someone on the other side of the line.

"No. I wasn't home when he got here," Elena said, "He was already in the kitchen and...why would I have to invite him in?"

She peaked out the window and saw Jeremy still doubled over on the porch.

"Damon, what's going on?"

"Is he still in the house?" Damon asked.

"No. He's on the porch. Damon, you need to explain what-" Elena was cut off by the sound of the phone going dead.

Elena peeked through the curtains again and saw Damon speeding up the porch steps and to Jeremy's side. He placed a hand on his shoulder and said something to him and then walked over to the front door and knocked.

Elena opened the door and Damon took a step into the front hall and pulled her along with him.

"What happened?" he asked.

"I came home and Jeremy looked like he was panicking and he started to say something and the next thing I knew he was choking and rushing towards the door," she said, "And I mean rushing. I barely had time to blink."

"Then what?" Damon asked.

"Then nothing," Elena said, "He's been like that for the last five minutes."

"He smells human," Damon said absently.

Damon stuck his head out the door and then sighed at whatever it was that he saw.

"Or he did," Damon said.

Elena rushed out the door and found that the porch was empty.

Jeremy was gone.

* * *

><p>Caroline was bored. Yes, she knew that was terrible. Jeremy was missing and a vampire and everyone was panicking, but she didn't have anything to do. Damon had insisted that she stay behind and she wasn't any good at the whole research thing; she didn't know how spells worked and her eyes kept glazing over when she tried to read through one of Ric's history and mythology books. So she was bored. So bored.<p>

"Damon's home," she perked up as she heard the footsteps speeding up the driveway.

"Does he have anyone with him," Bonnie asked.

"No," Damon shouted from the doorway.

He appeared in the living room doorway and lay down on a free couch. Bonnie frowned at him, while Caroline smiled softly. Bonnie obviously thought that he was being cavalier. Caroline's eyes shot to where the veins were pulsating softly under his closed eyes.

"He bolted while Elena was giving me an update," Damon said, "He smelled human though."

"That doesn't make any sense," Bonnie huffed, "What did Elena-"

Bonnie was cut off by Damon's head shooting up and his hand waving in her face impatiently. Caroline watched as a small smirk appeared on Damon's face. She turned up her senses to see if she could figure out what had drawn his attention and she heard it. Four human heartbeats in the house. Two in the living room that were obviously Ric and Bonnie and two making their way up the steps from the cellar.

"Fee fie foe fum," Damon chuckled and then sped off the couch and out of the room.

Caroline rolled her eyes and sped after him. When she arrived at stairway to the cellar it was just as the door was being slammed in Damon's face. Damon pounded on the door and it splintered under his strength.

The door finally swung open and Damon and Caroline sped down the steps and when they reached the bottom a pipe was swung at Damon's face, splitting the corner of his mouth. Damon's expression hardened as the two escaped deputies ran down the hall.

Caroline rushed past Damon and cut the deputies off before they reached the end of the hall and she could see Damon closing in on them from the other side. His face was healing slowly. His eyes were flashing and she could tell that he wanted to kill them.

"Damon," she said softly.

Damon's attention shifted to her, his expression calming only slightly.

"Get something to drink," she continued in a calm voice.

Damon didn't move.

"I've got this," she said firmly.

Damon disappeared mid-nod and Caroline moved forward to herd the Deputies up the stairs and into the living room.

"Sit," she commanded.

The deputies looked at the occupants of the room unsure. Caroline rolled her eyes and pushed them both down onto the floor.

"Stay," she said.

Damon appeared next to her, his features now back to normal and he looked down at the deputies sitting on the floor. He smirked at them and then turned to Caroline.

"You've been spending too much time with the puppy," Damon snarked, "You're starting to use doggy orders on other people."

Caroline rolled her eyes, "Can we be done with these two yet?"

Damon squatted down next to the deputies and sniffed them. He turned to Hill and growled, letting his vampire face show.

"You see that," Damon asked Hill, gesturing down to the man's pants.

Hill nodded.

"That's the last of the vervain passing out of your system," Damon smirked and let his face pass back to human.

He looked Hill in the eyes and Hill's eyes glazed over.

"You don't know who any of the vampires in Mystic Falls are," Damon began, "You don't remember anything that happened here in the last three days. You were out of town. You told the Sheriff that it was to visit a sick relative, but you were really visiting your secret lover. They dumped you though."

Damon broke eye contact.

"Okay?" he asked,

The Deputy nodded.

Damon looked up to see Caroline looking at him curiously.

"Insurance," Damon shrugged, "if anyone checks on his sick relatives they'll find out that he obviously didn't go visit, but no ones going to bother tracking down his ex-girlfriends. Take him to the car. We'll take him home after I get his buddy compelled."

Caroline led the freshly compelled Deputy out of the house and then Damon turned to the other one. The man was glaring at him.

"You're clean too, you know," Damon quipped, "I could just wipe that look off your face."

"Then do it," the man growled.

"You're the one who hit me with the pipe, aren't you?" Damon said.

"And that was with my blood sugar low." he replied, "Wait until I get my strength back."

Damon laughed and the looked Jackson in the eye. The Deputy's eyes glazed over and Damon began.

"You've been on a hunting trip. The Sheriff cleared it because you've been doing such excellent work.," Damon said, "You don't know that the Salvatore brothers or Caroline Forbes are vampires. You don't associate anyone in this house with vampires."

Damon broke eye contact as Jackson nodded.

Ric moved to lead the Deputy out of the room, but Damon turned back to him and threw Jackson back onto the floor and looked fiercely into his eyes.

"If Carol Lockwood or anyone on the Council starts pressuring you about finding the vampires in this town I want you to ask them why it was that the old Mayor collapsed with all of the other vampires on Founder's Day. You're going to ask how his wife could not know that he was a vampire. You're going make it your mission to find out."

Damon released the Deputy and then pulled him back to his feet. Deputy Jackson nodded.

"Good," Damon said.

* * *

><p>The knocking continued as Matt shouted that he was coming. It was erratic. It was anxious. It was kind of pushy. It was probably Caroline.<p>

He reached the door and was a little bit confused by what he was seeing on the other side. He was confused until he heard the tiny voice.

"Matty?"

* * *

><p>.<p> 


	5. Escape

Chapter 5: Escape

Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries. I'm not making money off of writing this.

AN: Was going through my email the other day and I realized that I forgot to give a shout out that I had been intending to make a few chapters back. I thank all of you for your reviews and your follows, but I have to say that I actually kept the first email that told me that starzee was reading my story as starzee is one of my favorite Daroline writers. I kind of squee-ed when I first got it. I've actually read almost all of the VD stories they've written. You all should read them too.

Anyway. Sorry for the wait. Thanks for the reviews. On with the show.

Enjoy.

* * *

><p>It kind of reminded Tyler of a Renaissance Faire that his mother had taken him to when he was kid. The camp was built around a what had once been a public rest stop, but the route had been shifted and nature had reclaimed the area. Only one full wall remained of the wash room and the pressure was a little bit wonky on the plumbing, but there was plumbing and that seemed to be enough for the pack.<p>

Built up around the central wall there were big tents for about three hundred feet in every direction. A father and daughter hung up their clothes on a line that hung between the poles holding up one tent and the top of the wall of the former washroom, a couple about Tyler's age snuck hand and hand towards the edge of the camp, their intentions clear for all to see, and large hulking men and short hard women patrolled the edge of the camp making sure that no-one unwelcome came into their midst.

When he had first arrived at camp he had been immediately tackled by a blur of red and blue. The were-wolf girl that the blur had turned out to be was now leading him to a tent on the far side of the camp. Tyler had only been here once before and he had only really been on the outskirts before.

He and Jules had passed through on their way back to Mystic Falls and Jules had checked in with the Alpha before spending the night in his territory. She had left Tyler in the car. The Alpha had come out to peek in the window at him, but he hadn't been introduced.

Two men started fighting towards the center of the camp, drawing Tyler's attention away from where he was going. His escort paused and took in what he was looking at and smirked at him.

"It's not a real wedding unless someone gets into a fight," she said.

"Is someone getting married?" Tyler asked confused.

"No," she smirked, "Why? Are you offering?"

Before Tyler could pull any words together she had turned away from him and seemed to be taking in exactly what was happening with the fight. After a few moments she spoke again.

"Hey!" she shouted, "Hob. Gary. Shut the fuck up...and pick up all that shit!"

The fighting died down and Tyler could swear he could hear the two that had been fighting apologizing to the girl under their breaths. She didn't seem to care and, with a smirk, simply turned back to the tent that she had been leading him to. That smirk reminded him so much of someone else. This gave him a slightly uneasy feeling.

They had finally reached the big tent and the girl pushed the flap covering the entrance aside and ushered Tyler in ahead of her. Lying on a fold out pallet bed in the corner was the Alpha that Tyler had seen the last time that he had been here. He looked to be in his thirties, had short, but wild hair and about a weeks growth. Upon seeing Tyler coming into the tent he turned his head up to look him in the eye and Tyler saw that his eyes were a bright, cold, blue.

"Hey, dad," Tyler nearly jumped at the girl's voice coming from behind him.

The Alpha's face broke into a grin and the way it split made it look like his lips were tearing back towards the back of his head. Tyler could see every last one of his teeth. It was very disconcerting.

"Hello, Cassie. How long have you been back in camp?" he asked sweetly, his voice was a little bit gravelly.

"Just a minute. Ran into this guy on the way in," she gestured towards Tyler, "Says he's looking for a pack."

"Well, I'll just have to have a conversation with him about that," he said before turning to Tyler, "Hello, I'm the Alpha of this pack. You can call me Ray. Let's go for a walk."

* * *

><p>Honestly she was pretty sure she had come back because she was bored. She pushed the door of the Boarding House open and stretched her arms languidly as she walked towards the living room. She could hear them ALL in there. They were arguing over something. She didn't really care what it was. There was always some drama going on in this godforsaken town. The witch was lecturing Damon on something he had done to some deputies and asking why he hadn't consulted her first, the teacher was trying get them to focus on some other subject involving the young Gilbert boy, Caroline seemed to be trying to get Damon to drink down a blood bag, Damon was muttering about something not feeling normal, and Elena was trying to get everyone to focus on how they were going to get Stefan back. Katherine smirked.<p>

"Of course that's something I can help you with," Katherine drawled from the doorway.

The room became silent. Every set of eyes shot up to stare at Katherine. Their expressions a truly impressive mix. Damon looked annoyed, his eyes rolling and returning to his drink after just a moment. Caroline looked a little bit scared, her eyes shooting for the door for a split second before her expression hardened and she glared at Katherine. The witch was trying to kill her, she could tell. It wasn't working. The teacher just shrugged and took a sip of his drink. Elena looked interested. That made Katherine interested right back.

"I know where Stefan is," she smirked.

"Raise your hand if you care," Damon said coldly.

Everyone glared at him and raised their hands and Damon rolled his eyes.

"Let me rephrase that," he chuckled, "Raise your hand if you are _stupid_ enough to believe her."

The hands fell. Katherine rolled her eyes and looked around. They were all turning away from her, but keeping her in their peripheral vision. Katherine sighed, but that's when she saw it. Elena was still looking at her with interest. Katherine smirked and then walked over and sat on the armrest next to her doppelganger.

This might be more fun that she thought.

* * *

><p>"What are you doing here," Matt asked as he indicated for the person in front of him to come in.<p>

"I needed to come home, Matty," came the tiny voice, "I don't know what's going on."

"What do you mean?" Matt said, "What's going on?"

"I was at the Halloween dance with Jeremy and something..." there was a pause and a confused expression and then, "happened. I don't know and then I was in Jeremy's house and I was so hungry. So I ran and-"

"Vicky?" Matt asked suddenly, "What happened?"

She knew that he wasn't asking her to continue her narrative. He could see that. The face wasn't right, but the expression was so very familiar.

"Matty," she said in such a small voice, "I'm a vampire."

* * *

><p>Caroline almost didn't pick up the phone when she saw who it was, but then she knew that, especially now, he wouldn't call her unless it was really important and if it was really important he wouldn't stop calling her back. With a sigh she picked up her phone.<p>

"Yes, Matt?" she snapped.

"Caroline," he started, "Something really weird just happened. Have you guys been looking for Jeremy?"

Caroline's eyes widened and she saw Damon's head shoot up too look at her.

"Did you see him?" she asked quickly, "Matt, don't invite him in. He might not be entirely in con-"

"He thinks he's Vicky, Caroline," Matt interrupted.

"What?"

"And I think he might not be wrong," Matt finished.

* * *

><p>Jackson walks into the room and the first thing he notices is that the Sheriff is not there. He had been summoned an hour before and he had never known a Council meeting to be so last minute. This immediately got his attention. This could only mean one of two things; either someone had been killed and it had to be covered up immediately or someone was trying to pull off something purely political behind someone's back.<p>

His investigator's instincts put this together with the Sheriff's absence and he immediately pulled out his phone and discreetly sent her a text asking her about the meeting. He sat down and waited for something to happen. His phone vibrated with a response just as Carol Lockwood stood up to begin speaking.

_**I wasn't told about a meeting. -Forbes**_

"For too long the efforts of our Sheriff's department have come to nothing," Carol began.

Another buzz.

_**Wait. Watch. Report. -Forbes**_

Jackson grinned. She was beginning to sound just like her father.

Carol Lockwood continued on in detailing how she had decided that Liz Forbes had become ineffective and was a liability to The Council as well as to her position as Sheriff. She talked about how Sheriff Forbes' deputies had been responsible for her husband's death. She talked about the fact that they had yet to find the bodies of two V5 Deputies who had disappeared during the Founder's Picnic. She talked about how Sheriff Forbes had not managed to catch a single vampire.

"I think it's time for a new Sheriff," Carol said, "Finley Jackson has been a V5 Deputy since the beginning. When I first joined The Council with my husband, Finley and the former Sheriff Forbes showed me the first vampire corpse I had ever seen."

Jackson could see where she was going with this, but he hadn't expected it when he had come into the meeting this evening. Carol Lockwood was recommending that The Council make him the new Sheriff. He was tempted. He was also insulted. These political ploys always made him sick and he knew perfectly well what happened to former Council members.

"No," he said simply.

Several other Council members echoed his response, but he wasn't really listening. He was too busy thinking over what Carol Lockwood had said. She was trying to oust the Sheriff. She was trying to direct the blame for the vampire attacks onto her. She shouldn't have brought up her husband.

That had been a slip.

* * *

><p>Anna arrived outside the Boarding House just after dawn and she saw Damon coming out the front door. He began to walk towards his car, but stopped as he saw her.<p>

"Hi," she said simply.

"Wasn't expecting you to come here," he said with a smirk.

"I'm not-"she began.

"Not Jeremy?" Damon chuckled, "Yeah. We've gotten that far."

"I've got her controlled for now," she said.

"Who?" Damon asked.

"Jeremy calls her Vicky?" Anna said.

"How the hell many of you are there in there?" Damon barked out in laughter.

"I need you to put us in the cell, Damon," she said, "And I need you to do it as fast as possible. She doesn't seem to be able to come out in the sunlight, but the second the sun goes down or we go through that door..."

"Who are you?" Damon asked.

"Damon Salvatore!" Anna shouted, "I've known you for a hundred and forty six years and you don't recognize me?"

"One forty seven," Damon said quietly.

"Shut up and put me in a cell," Anna said.

Before she had even finished her sentence Damon had grabbed her around the middle and was speeding towards the basement cells. The second they passed over the threshold Anna was thrust out of the body and Vicky began struggling vainly to break out of Damon's grip and then they both felt the now familiar asphyxiation and she saw a confused Jeremy taking control of his body again.

Damon threw Jeremy into the cell and quickly closed and latched the door behind him. Damon sped away and moments later returned with Elena in tow.

"Damon? What's going on?" Jeremy asked.

Damon ignored him and turned to Elena, "Elena, you have to be very specific now. Ok?"

"What's going on, Damon?" Elena said harshly.

"Elena, I need you to shut up and listen to me," Damon said harshly, "I need you to invite Anna into this house. I need to talk to her and I don't want to be interrupted."

"What-?"she began, but Damon covered her mouth and nodded his head towards where Jeremy was.

Elena looked suspiciously at Damon as she turned towards her brother and said, "Anna, I invite you into this house."

With a gasp of air Anna took control of the body again and she could tell that Elena could see the difference between Jeremy and herself. Anna shrugged at her and then turned to Damon who was looking into the cell expectantly.

"Now, what the hell is going on," he said.

* * *

><p>Elena left Damon and her brother (or Anna or whoever it was that was in the cell) to their conversation. It was becoming increasingly obvious that she didn't belong in other people's supernatural business. Bonnie and Jeremy had been keeping her out of the witch business for a long time now, she had never really been actively involved in Caroline's vampire business, she didn't even know what was going on with Tyler's werewolf thing, and Damon. Damon had been avoiding her as much as possible since their kiss. Or maybe she had been avoiding him. Maybe they just were avoiding each other.<p>

She found Katherine in the kitchen and for the first time she decided to just walk right up to her. She stood face to face with her and looked her in the eye, relying on the vervain around her neck to protect her from compulsion.

"Take me to them," she said.

Katherine grinned and patted her head.

"Pack your things," Katherine said over her shoulder as she walked out of the room.

* * *

><p>"You can see why the pack is a little on edge right?" Ray asked.<p>

Tyler nodded.

"Some scary ass vampire has been following your pack around since this guy promised you a way out of the moon curse. I can see why you might be a little-"

"You reek of vampire," Ray interrupted.

"I-,"Tyler began.

"It's not a problem," Ray laughed, "I need your help."

They had walked alone all of the way back to the main road where Tyler had left his car. No traffic had passed by in the ten minutes that they had been there, but Ray was looking around carefully anyway.

"I'm leaving the pack," Ray began, "I'm taking a few other loyal wolves with me."

"Yeah?" Tyler asked.

"We need you to help us escape," Ray said.

* * *

><p>AN: There are parts of this chapter that I'm not altogether happy with the pacing of, but there are other parts that I do like. And I just realized that this is the first chapter without any significant Damon/Caroline interaction. Well. More next time probably.


	6. Miles to Go

Chapter 6: Miles to Go

Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries. I'm not making money off of writing this.

AN: I actually re-watch very specific scenes when I know I'm going to be writing specific characters in specific moods/situations. I've mostly been looking for dialogue and delivery, etc so that I can get banter, voices, and delivery right, but I've started to watch some scenes without sound so that I can pay attention to how Anna, Vicky, and Jeremy move. Not sure if I've quite gotten them yet, but I'll improve hopefully.

Also, for those who are interested, I was picturing Ray and Cassie from last chapter looking like Michael Fassbender and Marissa von Bleicken. A week later I would have found a better face for her, but there you have it.

Anyway. Sorry for the wait. Thanks for the reviews. On with the show.

Enjoy.

* * *

><p>"Now, what the hell is going on," Damon asked.<p>

He watched as Jeremy's wrists crossed gently across his stomach, bringing his shoulders forward around his chest, his lips drew into his mouth and they rubbed past each other on the way out, and his shoulders shrugged weakly, his face turning to the side. Damon smirked. He knew the gesture well.

"Anna. Not the time," Damon said, "get on with the story."

"The Bennet witch screwed up," she finally said with a sigh, "her voice called out, begging to bring him back and somehow we got dragged back with him."

"We being?" Damon prompted.

"So far I've only seen this vampire girl," Anna said, "I don't think she even knows that Jeremy and I are here. She turned a bunch of teenagers in the woods over the last couple of days while Jeremy and I watched."

"So the three of you are still a vampire?" Damon asked.

"I am. The other one is. Jeremy is still very much human," Anna said.

"And what about him?" Damon asked, "Does he know that you and Vicky are in his body?"

"He sees us," Anna said, "I think I'm the only one that has a solid grasp on the situation. Jeremy seems to think we've been taking turns dragging him around the woods for the last few days. Literally. Taking him by the hand and – ,"

"Yeah," Damon interrupted, "So you're the dominant personality. Good to know. Explains why I'm not talking to baby Gilbert right now."

Anna drew into herself and shrugged again. Damon watched her carefully, trying to work out what to say next, and finally settled on a plan.

"We're going to keep you in here until we have more to work on," he started, "You're going to tell me where to find the baby vamps that your roommate has been making and I'll handle that. I'll also call in a friend of mine who might be able to work out what's going on with you."

"Damon," her voice was tiny when she started, "please don't tell him about this."

"No can do, Annabelle," Damon smirked as he pulled out his cellphone and began to dial, "Daddy dearest is the only one I know that might be able to help us out with this mess."

Anna banged her hand against the cell door and then slumped to the floor. Damon just watched her curiously through the hatch, while he listened to the phone ring. She looked up at him and for a moment he could have sworn he saw the big saucer eyes that she used to have.

"What happened between the two of you," he asked softly.

"Remember Monterrey?" she asked quietly.

"That wasn't his fault," Damon said simply, "It wasn't yours either."

Anna had just open her mouth to respond when they both heard the phone stop ringing. Their attention immediately focused on the line.

"Damon?" came the voice from the other end.

"Yeah," Damon said, "I need you in Mystic Falls. Apparently something went a little awry with a resurrection."

"Why do you care?" the voice replied and Damon could see Anna rolling her eyes.

"I'll do you one better," Damon smirked, "I'll tell you why _you_ should care."

"Yes, please. Enlighten me,"

"Anna is involved, William," Damon said simply and the line cut out.

"He won't come," Anna said simply.

"He'll be here by week's end," Damon responded and then his face softened, "Could there be anyone else in there with you?"

"Like who?" Anna asked sharply.

Caroline walked into the hall and peeked her head through the hatch. She smiled sadly as she handed the blood bag she was carrying over to Damon.

"He's hoping for his friend Rose," she said softly, "Elena and Ric will be wondering about Jenna. When we tell Bonnie, she'll be wondering about her Grams," she paused uncertainly, looking at Damon before finishing, "Personally, I think that we've seen all we're going to see."

"What are you doing here, Barbie?" Damon asked in annoyance.

"Oh," she said with a little gasp, "Elena and Katherine just took off."

"What!" Damon snapped.

"You know where they're going," Caroline sighed, "To find Stefan."

"Where's Stefan?" Anna asked from the cell.

"Remember Monterrey?" Damon asked.

* * *

><p>She tried to flip her hair, but the short red mop barely moved. She licked her lips and scanned the club. She found that she was looking up at everyone there and not for the first time today she realized that her eyes were focusing on their throats. Her eyes darted over to where Stefan was leaning against the bar and watching her. She wanted so much to impress him. She wanted to be useful for once. Stefan grinned at her and nodded for her to get started.<p>

She grabbed the nearest guy she could find and began to dance with him. She didn't even bother to see what he looked like, she just grabbed him and started maneuvering him over to a dark corner of the club. He didn't resist, so she had no need to look up and catch his eye.

The dark enveloped them and she immediately, ripped a chunk out of her own wrist, forcing the battered mess into her victim's mouth, waiting impatiently for him to stop resisting and to start taking her blood in willingly. Just like he was supposed to. Just like she knew she had just a few nights ago.

When she felt that he had drained enough of her blood, she bit viciously into his throat and began draining her life right back into her body. She felt his heart slow and then stop. She let him drop unceremoniously to the ground and then her eyes shot back to the crowd that surrounded her.

She was still hungry.

She darted to the nearest person and pulled her quickly back into the shadows, immediately sinking her teeth into the girls throat and draining her dry. She quickly dropped her victim and found the next, not even bothering to drag this one back into the darkness, she just drained him dry and tossed him aside before moving on to the next.

Out of the corner of her eyes she saw Stefan's eyes reddening and felt as he began darting around the room as well. She saw limbs being thrown across the room and felt blood spattering across her sides, but she didn't really care about any of that as she grabbed throat after throat, draining them dry. She had never felt a hunger like this before in her life.

Soon she and Stefan were the only ones left alive in the club. The walls were saturated with blood and she had to restrain herself from going over and licking them clean. She could feel the veins under her eyes still pulsating as she turned to look at Stefan, who was breathing heavily. Taking in large gasps of air, that she knew that he no longer needed.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, "I know we were supposed –."

"It's fine, Danni," he said, "We can find more tomorrow."

* * *

><p>"Why do you still think you're coming with me?" Damon snarked.<p>

"Why do you still think I'm not?" Caroline replied with a smirk.

"I need you to stay here and make sure the prisoner stays put," Damon said.

"Anna isn't going to leave, Jeremy can't get out of the cell, and Bonnie can soooo flatten Vicky," Caroline smiled.

"I'm going to _kill_ you, Barbie," Damon snapped.

"I know," Caroline chirped, "You promised."

* * *

><p>The scent led them to a motel on the edge of the road about six hours south of Mystic falls. Damon grabbed onto her as she was trying to step out of the car and yanked her to her feet. He put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her in closer to him and started walking towards the motel's office.<p>

"Smile, Barbie," he whispered.

They walked into the office and the bell above the door rang out. A teenage girl, came out from the back room and smiled at them while plopping herself down in a swivel chair. The swivel chair nearly fell over as it spun, but the girl managed to steady herself and the chair by grabbing onto the office counter.

"Whoops," she said with another smile, "Can I help you two?"

"Yes, you can," Damon smiled charmingly at her.

"Kenneth!" Caroline said scoldingly while hitting Damon on the shoulder, "I'm sorry. We're looking for his baby cousins," she said turning to the girl, "They were supposed to wait for us back in Atlanta, but they called us earlier to say that they were staying here."

"Okay," chirped the girl, "And what's your last name?"

"Casa de Sueno," Damon broke in, "But Barbara and I won't be checking in and we're not sure whether they'll be going by their father's name or their mother's maiden name. It could be Petr –."

"You mean the Petrarch sisters," the girl asked.

Damon smirked, "Of course they would go by Kate's name," he said with a laugh, "El was always the passive type."

"For your baby cousins, they didn't look much younger than your wife," the girl chirped.

"It's amazing how well she's held up isn't it," Damon laughed, "You'd never guess that she was pushing thirty."

"Kenneth!" Caroline squealed in horror, "I'm only twenty-three."

"Of course dear," Damon said in a faux solemn voice and then held up four fingers and mouthed, "Four years running."

"So what room are they in," Caroline asked impatiently, glaring at Damon.

* * *

><p>"Casa de Sueno? Really?" Caroline tried to restrain a fit of giggles as she glared at Damon, "You just had to call me Barbie Dreamhouse?"<p>

"You think Teenybopper Kelly worked that out?" Damon asked.

"What room is it?" Caroline asked offhandedly.

"Oh come on," Damon snapped, "You don't get to be mad. You called me Ken first."

"You call me 'Barbie' all of the time, Ken," Caroline snapped, "So don't be a dick."

* * *

><p>Damon hadn't even knocked on the door before Katherine opened it, looked Damon up and down and sighed in relief.<p>

"About time," Katherine said and gestured over her shoulder, "Come in and take her home."

"Not what you imagined, Katherine?" Damon asked with a smirk.

"She's such a buzzkill," Katherine whined, "She wouldn't even have a drink with me."

Damon's eyebrow rose and he smirked.

"Not that kind of drink," Katherine said with a pout.

Caroline had followed Damon in and had plopped herself down on one of the room's twin beds. Her eyes were flitting back and forth between Katherine and Damon as they each spoke and would settle on the door to the bathroom as silence settled over the room. The shower was running and Caroline could hear Elena humming as she washed. She could hear a washrag scraping over Elena's skin.

"You do know that no one is going to fall for your fake name, right?" Damon finally spoke up again, just before the three vampires turned as they heard the shower shutting off in the other room.

A few short moments later Elena stepped out of the bathroom, using a small towel on her hair as she grabbed around blindly for her clothes on the shelf outside the bathroom door. Her eyes were closed and she was still humming softly under her breath.

"Katherine?" she said absently, "Have you seen my..."

Her voice drifted off as she looked up to see three sets of eyes locked on her. She started uncomfortably and then quickly brought the towel down from her hair in a feeble attempt to use it to cover the rest of her body, finding it difficult to decide between covering her chest or her waist. Finally she dodged back into the bathroom and just stuck her head out into the main room.

"Hi," she said weakly.

* * *

><p>"You're an idiot," Damon had been saying this in variation for a good fifteen minutes and everyone was getting tired of it.<p>

"I'm going to look for _your_ brother," Elena said, "You should be coming with us."

"Stefan is _not_ my responsibility!" Damon shouted, "_He_ chose to give himself over to Klaus. _He_ chose to leave town. _He_ chose to make himself a fucking martyr and as far as I'm concerned he can _choose_ to clean up after himself."

"Well you promised that saving me would always come first," Elena said with a small smile, "And I don't care what you say, I'm going to save Stefan."

"I've made a lot of promises, Elena," Damon sighed, "And I'm going back to Mystic Falls. You can go be an idiot with Katherine. I trust her to keep you safe."

Katherine smiled at Damon as he said this and he glared and turned on her.

"Don't," he said, "You know exactly why I'm trusting you on this."

"Damon," Caroline spoke up for the first time in the conversation, "I think I'm going to go with them."

"No. You're not," Damon gritted out without even looking at her, "I've got promises to keep."

"And miles to go before you sleep?" Katherine quipped with a smirk.

"Ain't no rest for the wicked," Elena smirked.

"See, Barbie? They're already bonding. They'll be fine on their own," Damon said, "Elena, go take care of my brother. I'll go home and take care of yours."

Elena's eyes widened, "Damon?"

"Miles to go," Damon smirked.

* * *

><p>Damon kept his hand firmly around Caroline's arm as he walked out to the car. She knew that she could probably break his hold if she tried, but she didn't feel like making this abundantly clear to Damon at this very moment, she simply adjusted his grip softly so that her arm was in a slightly more comfortable position and then watched his face as he 'dragged' her to the car. He was getting drawn again. She wondered at how much energy he had had to exert to not lets his face change while he was arguing with Elena. She knew that he hadn't fed enough today.<p>

"I think we should stop at that bar we passed on the way up here," she said casually, "to feed."

"This isn't HBO, Blondie," Damon smirked as he pulled open his door, "Bar's don't serve packaged blood."

"I know that," Caroline stomped her foot and rushed around to the passenger side, "I was thinking you could fresh feed."

"I don't think Liz would be too happy with that," Damon smirked.

"I won't tell her," Caroline smiled softly, "If you don't."

* * *

><p>Caroline absently brought her ringing phone to her ear as she watched Damon press the trucker up against the back wall of the bar and sink his fangs into his throat. She listened intently to the man's heartbeat as she spoke.<p>

"Hello?"

"Caroline?" Tyler's voice came through the line and she saw Damon's eyes shoot up to her for a moment before he returned his attention to his meal.

"Tyler?" Caroline said exasperated, "What is it?"

"I've got some information that Damon might find interesting," Tyler said curtly before his voice softened, "And I need to ask him permission for my pack to enter his territory. It's a rule. Usually just with wolves, but we're asking to pass into vampire territory."

"Tyler, Damon isn't going to want werewolves in Mystic Falls," Caroline sighed, "He barely tolerated you."

"The wolves I'm bringing with me," Tyler began, "They have information about a wolf that can change at will."

Caroline felt her phone leave her hand as Damon extricated it from her grip. His other hand patted comfortingly at her waist as a concerned look passed over his face.

"Describe him," Damon commanded into the phone.

"Damon?" Tyler's voice broke a little bit in fear.

"Hello, puppy. Yes, it's me. How are you today?" Damon snapped, "Now describe him."

Tyler took a moment to get his bearings back and then described the mystery wolf just as he had been described to him.

"Hmm," Damon responded, "You know the tomb by the old church?"

"Yeah?" Tyler asked uncertainly.

"Bring the pack. Two days." Damon said and then ended the call.

"Did you just – ," Caroline began.

"Klaus," Damon said simply, "He just described Klaus."

* * *

><p>AN: Sorry again that this took so long. I stalled at the beginning of the Katherine/Elena scene and also I'm not sure but there might be somewhere in here where I wrote a part while drunk. If you see this and it's entirely too obvious, please point it out to me and I'll look it over.

Once again not sure how happy I am with some parts of this. Some of the scenes turned out better in my mind than I originally imagined them and some of them went the other way. I know I'm not happy with the chapter title, but all the ones that I thought of fit better with some other chapter I had planned.


	7. Wolves in the Garden

Chapter 7: Wolves in the Garden

Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries. I'm not making money off of writing this.

AN: I was looking through screencaps of recent episodes and spotted one from where Damon was going to pick up Andie at work and it totally _is_called Action News! There's a poster in the background that proudly proclaims as much. So, unless Damon got bored over the summer and compelled someone to change the name of the news program, Alaric was totally wrong/lying last season.

On a slightly more pertinent note...

Anyway. Sorry for the wait. Thanks for the reviews. On with the show.

Enjoy.

* * *

><p>"Remind me why you're down here with us again."<p>

"Keeping you company," Caroline smiled, "It's bound to get boring down here all alone."

"I'm not exactly alone down here," (probably) Anna said with a small smile.

"Okay," Caroline sighed, "Maybe _you're_ keeping _me_ company, but Damon and Bonnie are up there planning and coming up with rules and corollaries to rules and they aren't really listening to me and apparently I'm not allowed to leave the house on my own anymore and I'm bo-red."

"Are you always like this," (almost definitely) Anna laughed.

"Maybe," Caroline huffed, "But I'm getting better."

"Care?" Caroline perks up as she notices the change in tone, "Caroline, what am I doing in here?"

"Jeremy?" Caroline asked softly.

"Anna told me that you're waiting for someone to come along and cure me," Jeremy said, "I feel fine, Caroline."

"Jer, what do you remember about the last week?" Caroline asked.

"Anna and Vicky came back," Jeremy's voice broke on the last word, "No one comes back, Caroline."

"Shh, it's ok, Jer," (almost certainly) Anna said soothingly.

"I shouldn't be here for this conversation," Caroline said, "Should I go? I should go."

* * *

><p>It hadn't been nearly long enough since the last time he had been in Mystic Falls. In all honesty, he was fairly certain that he despised Mystic Falls with all of his being. This was land settled by werewolves and inquisitors and part of it would always hold onto the aura of those origins. And it would always be the place that took his family from him, three times.<p>

He didn't bother going into town. He made his way directly to the Salvatore Boarding House. He didn't bother knocking, he didn't really need an invitation, he never had, it was a weakness that he had never developed. No one had ever worked out why, but in all honesty it could have been for a whole slew of reasons and he couldn't give less of a fuck.

He slipped through the front door and towards where he heard Damon's voice. Damon was arguing with a young woman. He sensed power coming off of her. Power that tasted of burnt copper and lemons. He grimaced at the feeling and strode into the room with his teeth already bared.

The girl let out a little shocked sound upon his entrance and he could feel her unleashing her magic on him. He barely even flicked his eyes to the side and she was pushed against the wall, her magic bound inside of her body. He stalked towards her and he could feel her struggling against his hold, though outwardly she wasn't able to even wriggle. Her expression was terrified.

"Put the witch down, William," Damon's calm voice cut through William's anger and he dropped the girl to the ground. He vaguely heard her gasping for breath when she hit the floor, and he rolled his eyes at the drama.

"That girl is not a witch, Damon," William said with a sneer, "She's a damned warlock. She tastes bitter on my tongue."

Damon rolled his eyes and walked out of the room. When no one followed him he reappeared a moment later and waved the both of him to follow him. The girl backed out of the room, keeping a wary eye on William who followed behind.

* * *

><p>Damon laughed. Caroline was sitting at the bottom of the steps leading to the basement with a fashion magazine, peeking surreptitiously over the top of it at the door to the cell. There was no way that anyone in the cell could see her even if they were looking.<p>

"_What_ are you doing, Blondie?" Damon asked through a smirk.

"Reading," she answered automatically before blushing and finishing, "Mostly."

She turned around and Damon could tell from the shift in her expression exactly when William came into view over his shoulder. Caroline's face scrunched up in confusion for a moment before she smiled for a moment and then she looked worried.

Without turning his head, Damon gestured absentmindedly over his shoulder, "Blondie, William. William, Caroline."

William simply brushed past the both of them with an absentminded, "Pleasure, I'm sure," before continuing on to the cell. He looked in the cell and then sighed.

"How do you get yourself into these situations, Annabelle?" he asked.

"Dude, I don't know who you are, but – ," Jeremy started.

"Shush, I'm not talking to you at the moment," William said softly, "Annabelle, who is that other girl in there with you?"

"That would probably be Vicky Donovan," Damon spoke up from where he was still sitting on the stairs.

"The warlock girl resurrected this boy?" William asked sharply.

"Yeah," Damon said, "I figure it's like that guy in London in 1898. I mean, I would just have leapt right to mental breakdown if he hadn't been dead a little over a week ago."

"Yes," William said, still looking into the cell fondly, "That is the most likely case."

"You've seen this before?" Bonnie screeched at Damon in disbelief, "And you didn't tell me?"

"Didn't know for sure," Damon shrugged, "Called in an expert for a consult."

Caroline walked up up William and softly touched his shoulder. His glance left the cell for a moment before returning. He shrugged the young vampire's hand off his shoulder.

"Can you tell us what's happening?" she asked softly, "And what we can do to help?"

"Magic always has a cost to the living," William began, "Most spells just tire witches out or kill them. Resurrection spells are not most spells. May I ask who Annabelle and this Vicky were to the boy?"

"They were his girlfriends," Bonnie's voice came from the far side of the room, "They loved him."

"Yes, they would have had to have," William said, "What is your connection to the boy, Warlock?"

"I'm his girlfriend," Bonnie offered lamely, "I brought him back."

"The connection that the patient has to his donors has a lot to do with the magic user that casts the spell," William said, "In 1898 the woman who resurrected him had been his sister in law. She had accidentally pushed him down a staircase when she was trying to make her way past him to her sister. Her sister was devastated when she found out her husband was dead and the woman had been overcome with guilt for killing him. When the man came back he was sharing his body with everyone who he had ever felt guilt over killing. He had been twenty years in military service. There were hundreds of people in that body, I could only communicate with one."

"I – ," Bonnie began.

"If I were you I would hope that he's got a little bit of magic in him now," William said coldly, "It's not just the dead that he could have drawn from."

"Can we get the others out of him?" Caroline asked.

"We need to return them to themselves," William said, "With greater numbers it's almost impossible, but with only two conscious personalities it should be possible. Are the bodies accessible?"

"Vicky was buried," Bonnie said, "But I don't know what happened with Anna. She was staked in a burning building."

"Not a guarantee that the body was destroyed," William said, "If it has been we should be able to make do with ash from the site, but we must be sure. If a body is still out there then we will not be able to proceed with out it. Damon?"

"I'll get on that. Blondie, where's your mom tonight?" Damon asked.

"At home I think," Caroline said, "Why?"

* * *

><p>Klaus and Greta watched from the balcony as Stefan and his new diminutive partner in crime scoured the crowd of the club. After three nights in a row in which only a half a handful had managed to survive the pair's forays into feeding long enough to be turned, Klaus had come to the conclusion that they needed supervision. Klaus grinned as Stefan pulled three men into a dark corner and filled a glass with his own blood before offering it to the men with a significant glance into their eyes.<p>

"He has style," Klaus said with a grin, "And he's learning to branch out."

"The girl is an interesting choice," Greta responded.

Klaus' eyes drifted down to the bar. Danni was smiling softly at a tall blonde girl that was sat there wearing a golden leather jacket and running her long fingernails delicately around the edge of a martini glass. Danni motioned away from the bar and towards one of the corner booths and the girl turned to the side for a moment. Klaus groaned.

"Danni," he called out over the crowd. The music was so loud that only the vampires in the room could hear his voice over it. Both Danni and her companion turned, the latter's bright blue eyes narrowing and her teeth playing on her lips for a moment as she formed the word 'fuck'. Klaus waved them up to the balcony impatiently.

Seconds later Danni was stood in front of him, her eyes darting shyly between his face and the floor. The blonde girl was stood next to her staring defiantly at him. He noticed her hand hovering off to her side, in preparation for putting it on the small of Danni's back.

"Daisy," Klaus greeted lazily, "Danni darling, you are aware that you are supposed to be turning the crowd?"

"Yes," Danni said quietly, "I was – ,"

"Are you aware that you were charming a vampire, then?" Klaus asked with a chuckle.

"What?" Danni asked.

"Daisy dear, go say hello to your sire," Klaus said nodding his head towards the corner Stefan was now occupying with a few of the club's bouncers, "Danni is working right now. You can get to know each other all you'd like later."

"You found him?" Daisy asked with a slight lilt seeping through her no doubt carefully constructed but lazily executed American accent and into her surprised voice.

Klaus grinned and called out, "Oh, Stefan!"

Stefan's eyes shot up to the balcony, still pulsing from feeding on the bouncers who now lay dead and waiting for transition to set in.

* * *

><p>Liz Forbes was beginning to develop a habit of swearing every time someone knocked on her front door. It was never good news. It was never someone coming to tell her that she had just won a million dollars. It was always someone she had to be cautious of. Like Tyler. Or Bonnie. Or Damon.<p>

She was realizing she only knew people that she had to be cautious of these days and this lead to her developing the habit of swearing every time someone knocked on her front door. Today's word of the day: Shit! Subtle. To the point.

She peaked through around the curtain on the door and through the window to see Damon standing on her porch with a serious look on his face. She sighed and pulled the door open.

"What can I do for you, Damon?"

"We're going to have a little conversation, Liz," Damon said, "The title of which is 'Why Exactly I'm Going to Need You Help Me Go Grave Robbing."

"Damon, can we keep this short?" Liz sighed putting her hand to her forehead and squeezing her eyes shut, "It's been a really long week."

"We took care of the vampire who's been killing the partying teens, B.T.W," Damon said cheerily, "Bad news is she made a few new vampires while she was at it. I'll have someone get right on that once we're – ."

"Did you say grave robbing?" Liz asked suddenly.

"Actually," Damon began, "We'll get to that. I think it's time that I get into full disclosure mode with you."

"What's this about?" Liz asked.

"Three main subjects. One. I've given Tyler a pass to bring a pack of werewolves to town. How long they stay depends on how well my meeting with them goes, but if they are staying in town I'll make sure to give you a roll sheet. I don't like much that they're coming here, but they might have information they need and if they stay in line they might be useful in the long run."

"Okay," Liz said uncertainly, "Do you want me to come to this meeting?"

"Couldn't hurt," Damon shrugged, "As long as it's not the full moon Bonnie, Barbie, and I should be able to take them easy enough and you might benefit from a face to face."

"Okay," Liz said, "Two?"

"Two. Do you remember Vicky Donovan?" Damon asked.

"Yes. She was Matt's sister. She was killed last year and dumped in the woods," she said, "Caroline found the body. Matt said that Caroline had told him that you killed her."

"It was before her time, so I'll let that particular mistake go," Damon said, "I turned Vicky. Stefan had night-bound me. So I was stuck in the house and bored and Vicky just sounded so miserable. I fed her up and snapped her neck. Stefan and Elena came up with some sort of stupid plan about how they weren't going to let her transition, but Logan Fell fucked that up."

"Is that how he became a vampire?" Liz asked.

"None of us turned Logan Fell," Damon said, "Some idiot who has since died did that."

"Okay."

"Anyway, she turned. She was iffy in the control department. That tends to happen with druggies, but I still don't think I can be blamed for that. She was blood sharing with baby Gilbert when Elena interrupted and Vicky, lost a bit of control and went after her. Stefan killed her. I only stashed the body because Stefan is an idiot."

"So why are you telling me this now?" Liz asked skeptically.

"I'll get to that after subject number three," Damon said, "I need to know what happened with the vampires in the Gilbert fire."

"They burned," Liz said without comprehension.

"Completely?" Damon asked, "No husks. No charred skeletons?"

"No, there was nothing left," Liz said, "Why?"

"I had a friend in there," Damon said, "Completely harmless to the town. She and her mother only wanted to make lives for themselves. I watched John Gilbert drive a stake through her heart in that basement and there was nothing I could do about it."

"I'm sorry," Liz said.

"Not your fault, Liz," Damon smiled, "Now, on to why I need you to help me go grave robbing."

"Three?" Liz asked with a smirk.

"Three. Jeremy Gilbert is being possessed by Vicky Donovan and my dead friend from the fire. I need their bodies in order to end the possession. If there really weren't any bodies in the fire then some ash should do for that, but I need you to help me get Vicky Donovan's body."

"Only the family – ," Liz began.

"Captain America will be pretty easy to convince," Damon interrupted, "But the Council have already worked out that vampires were involved in her death, which means that they are suppressing the physical evidence, which includes the body. Just show me where the body is and I can take it from there and then Jeremy, Vicky, and Anna can all go on their ways."

"What?" Liz asked shocked.

"We're going to put the spirits back into their old bodies," Damon smirked, "In order to get them out of Jeremy, we have to bring them back to life."

* * *

><p>"Do you know that your mother's body is next to the icebox that Damon is keeping his blood supply in?" William asked as he came back into view of the cell door carrying a bag of blood in one hand.<p>

"Yeah," Anna said quietly, "Damon told me. He says he's going to have a proper ceremony once we're done with this."

"If all goes well, I hope you'll let me be there with you," William said softly.

"Where were you when I was getting her out of the tomb?" Anna asked angrily, "Where were you when John Gilbert killed her?"

"Looking for a way to open the tomb," William laughed mirthlessly, "Emily might not have been the strongest warlock I ever met, but she knew how to fuck over vampires just fine."

"I hadn't seen you since you and Damon left Monterrey behind," Anna said, "I thought you had forgotten about us."

"There was no way to forget about that damn tomb with Damon Salvatore with you," William said wryly, "Does he know that Katherine wasn't in that tomb yet?"

"He found out after we got it open," Anna said with a small smile, "He wasn't very happy about it."

"Of course he wasn't" William said, "I don't think he ever even considered giving up on finding her. Not after..."

"How did you even know she wasn't in the tomb?" Anna asked, "I didn't even find out until the fifties."

"I never thought Katherine was in the tomb," William replied, "But what good would have come from telling Damon that his sire had abandoned him. He was bad-tempered enough as it was."

Anna laughed.

William's expression became more serious. He ran his hand through his hair and leaned his forehead against the door to the cell.

"You know that I loved your mother, right?" he asked, "That the moment I found her hiding out in that shack, cradling you in her arms and staring me down like I was nothing...the moment that I found the two of you there wasn't a thing in the world more important to me. You know that?"

"Don't let Damon figure out you're that big of a sap," Anna said, "He'll never have any respect for you again."

* * *

><p>Damon watched as the werewolves filed their way into the field. He looked them up and down. Nothing about them really set them apart from anyone else. They were just people. Sure they smelled like wet dog, but so did a lot of people.<p>

The majority of the wolves settled themselves down haphazardly on the ground around the clearing, but three of them lined up at the front standing at attention across from where Damon, Liz, Bonnie, and Caroline were standing, watching expectantly. Tyler was one of them, another was a girl about the same age with long red hair and a defiant smirk on her face, and the two of them were flanking a tall man with wild hair and the beginnings of a scruffy beard.

"Damon Salvatore," the man said jovially, "Fancy seeing you again."

"Have we met," Damon asked in a bored tone.

"Raymond," the man said, "I'm Joseph's brother."

"Little Ray?" Damon laughed, "I didn't know you guys were wolves. Are you in charge then?"

"I am," Ray said solemnly, "This is my daughter Cassandra. She is my second. I believe you already know Tyler."

"Right," Damon said seriously, "This is Sheriff Forbes, Bonnie here is the local alakazam, and this is Caroline."

"Are these all of the introductions we need?" Ray asked.

"For now," Damon said, "If you're planning on staying you'll have to give Sheriff Forbes a list of pack members before we leave. Before we get to that though, I would like to hear about this wolf that has you on the run."

"Physically he is in his late twenties. Blonde hair. About your height give or take. Commonwealth accent, probably British, but I wouldn't bank on that since I really can't tell them apart myself. Seems overly fond of tight shirts. Turns into a wolf form seemingly at will. Says 'darling' a lot," Ray said with a smirk, "Need anything else."

"Nope," Damon said, popping the 'p', "Sounds like Klaus. You're right to hide."

"We were hoping that we could stay in Mystic Falls for awhile," Ray said, "From what Tyler has told us it seems like Klaus has been here and done that."

"Bonnie," Damon prompted, "Take it away."

"We have foreseen your request and have precautions that we are prepared to take," Bonnie began, "I will set a seal on the tomb under the old church that will prevent any werewolves from exiting or anyone else from entering on the night of the full moon. You will all need to be in the tomb by the time the sun sets."

"If any of you aren't, I'll kill you on sight," Damon said, "If I come across any of you when you're in wolf form and I don't kill you on sight, I will kill you in the morning. The pack will be expected to keep track of who isn't in the tomb on the full moon. If you do not provide me with the fuck up, I will kill you all. Yes, I'm including Tyler here. No, Barbie, I don't care if that's going to piss you off."

"How do we know you won't trap us in this tomb and then just come in and kill us all," Cassandra finally spoke up.

"Look at it this way," Damon said with a smirk, "You've already admitted that this is vampire territory. We're allowing you to stay here as a courtesy. You have no control over yourselves when you're in wolf form, we do have control over ourselves when we kill. Really you're the bigger threat to the town and more importantly, to me at least, you're the bigger threat to the vampire population. If we really wanted you dead, we'd be done by now. Which reminds me; if any of you do anything against us or the town on a day other than the full moon, I really won't have a problem with ripping your hearts out."

"Damon!" both Sheriff Forbes and Caroline said in unison.

"Are we clear?" Bonnie asked firmly.

* * *

><p>AN: Once again; sorry for the wait, which actually has gotten a lot longer since I wrote it at the top of this chapter. Hopefully the next chapter will be up faster as some other things that I've had to work on recently have cleared up. I do have a pretty good idea where this story is going, right up to the end, but I also am figuring out what is happening in which chapter as I go along, so I'm not sure how many more chapters this going to be. At the rate I'm going, probably quite a few. After all I have at least three story arcs to complete.


	8. Monterrey 1917

Chapter 8: Monterrey 1917

Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries. I'm not making money off of writing this.

AN: So this chapter is a bit of an experiment for me. You'll probably catch on to what I mean pretty soon after you start reading. I'm writing this before I start actually writing the chapter, but I'm going to make a guess that this will be the longest chapter yet and also that it will take the longest time for me to post yet. Here's hoping that the latter is wrong.

Anyway. Sorry for the wait. Thanks for the reviews. On with the show.

Enjoy.

* * *

><p>Bonnie was discussing the practicalities of the soon to be new and improved tomb spell with Ray, Caroline was catching up with Tyler, and Damon was bored. He was leaned up against a tree at the edge of the clearing and telling himself not to listen in on any of the conversations going on in the clearing while at the same time wishing that he had brought a bottle of something with him. He was just about to give up his self control and allow himself to eaves drop on the, now apparently heated, conversation going on between Caroline and Tyler, when he felt someone sidling up next to him at the edge of the clearing.<p>

Damon let his eyes flicker to the side without turning away from the clearing and saw that it was the girl that Ray had introduced as his daughter and that she had a smirk plastered on her face as she leaned against a different tree and watched him. Her arms were crossed and she was tapping one of her feet and it all just seemed so familiar.

"What?" he finally snapped.

"You're bored out of your mind," she remarked in a tone of amusement, "Aren't you?"

"No," Damon started sarcastically, "I'm just sitting here taking in the view."

"Everyone is taking this so seriously," she remarked, "This whole warring tribes meeting to deal with a common threat, thing. I think I need a drink."

"A nice glass of bourbon," Damon commented.

"I was thinking shots," Cassandra responded with a smirk, "But I wouldn't say no to some bourbon."

"Hey, Ray," Damon called out, "I'm inviting your daughter back to mine."

Ray looked over and glared at Damon. Damon laughed and waved his hand dismissively at the pack leader.

"Don't worry. I'll bring a chaperone," Damon laughed, "Mutt? Blondie?"

"I'm going to have to take a rain check," Cassandra said with a wink, "Things to do."

Caroline came up just as Cassandra was finished talking. She smiled brightly at the other girl and then turned to Damon and he could see that she was letting her fatigue show through now that he was the only one that could see her. Damon smiled at her softly.

"Are we about ready to go?" Caroline asked quietly.

Damon pushed himself lightly away from the tree he had been leaning against and without thinking brought his hand to the small of Caroline's back. He felt a small smile forming on his lips when he felt her hand pressing softly against his back. The werewolf girl gave the pair an appraising look and then smirked at them.

"Yeah, I think we're about ready," Damon said softly before nodding to Cassandra and calling out, "You going to be alright here, Judgy?"

Bonnie turned away from her conversation only long enough to wave Damon impatiently away. Damon couldn't help smirking at that.

"Come on, Barbie," Damon said, "Let's go home."

* * *

><p>They had been walking through the woods for about fifteen minutes when Caroline pulled away from Damon and began walking backwards a foot ahead of him, trying to ensure that she could look him in the eye while they were talking. She saw Damon holding back a laugh at her behavior, but she pressed on nonetheless.<p>

"Anna was one of the 1864 vampires, right?" Caroline asked, "You knew her when you were human?"

"A little," Damon said with a small nod, "Katherine was friends with her mom."

"Right, so your mom was friends with her mom, but the way you talk to her..." Caroline started.

"Yes?" Damon asked with a smirk.

"There's a lot more to it, isn't there?" Caroline said.

"Four vampires didn't 'die in the church' back in the day," Damon said complete with air quotes.

"I know you and Stefan were in transition when it was happening," Caroline started and she knew that her forehead was scrunching up as she tried to work things out, "But how did Anna and the Crypt Keeper avoid the gas chambers?"

"From what I've been told, Katherine survived the same way that she always does," Damon said, "She was a manipulative bitch. Pearl says that she promised to turn the guard. Stefan says that she made a deal with George Lockwood for the Moonstone. Either way...Did you just refer to her as my mother?"

"No," Caroline laughed, "I called her your mom. Big difference."

"Don't," Damon said coldly, "I liked my mother."

"So...Anna?" Caroline asked carefully.

"Emily Bennet liked Anna and Pearl," Damon said, "So Emily made the same deal with Anna that she made with me."

"She saved her mom?" Caroline asked, "Was that the deal?"

"She saved her too," Damon said.

* * *

><p>Mystic Falls 1864:<p>

I had been telling Stefan for weeks that I was going to leave him behind. At first I thought that it was an idle threat, but despite everything there was no sign of my brother anywhere in this new Stefan. So I packed my bags and I made plans to leave Mystic Falls with all of the things in the world that I still thought of as important. I had no intention of ever coming back, but I still packed light. I figured I could just compel myself new supplies wherever I settled next.

I was actually at the door when I first met Stefan's salvation. She walked up and she attempted to guilt me into staying. It was really a bit of a joke. She didn't know anything about me and my brother. Lexi was an outsider.

"Going somewhere?" she asked.

"You must be the vampire I hear my brother complaining about," I said turning to her and holding back a sigh.

"That would be me. And you must be the brother who hates him," she really did not know anything about me and my brother.

"We are at irreparable odds," was all that I was willing to concede.

**"**You know the hate you're feeling towards Stefan? Towards everyone? You think you have it under control but you don't. It will get the best of you," I believe to this day that she though that she knew what she was talking about and with Stefan she might have been right, but I was far from hating everyone in those days. My emotions were still on at full. I was still, as I said, at irreparable odds with my brother, but I felt for him.

"Help him. He needs it," I asked her softly.

I could see her face contort with a little bit of surprise. Obviously whatever she had been told by Stefan had not prepared her for my reaction. This surprise hurt me more than anything else that Stefan had done. I turned to the door.

**"**I'll help him," she responded just as I shut the door behind me.

* * *

><p>There was a carriage waiting for me in our drive and I was glad that I was not going to be standing on my front porch waiting for it to arrive. I dreaded another confrontation with Lexi and I knew I wouldn't survive a confrontation with Stefan. The carriage driver was freshly compelled and, upon seeing me, stepped down from his perch and opened the door for me. I'm pretty sure on any other day he would have been the Fell family driver.<p>

Annabelle stuck her head out of the door and smiled at me and stuck a gloved hand down to help me up the steps. Her smile was small and her hand was shaking a little bit, but she was holding herself together pretty well considering the trauma we had only recently been through. She was wearing this white dress that I remembered seeing hanging in the back of her mother's shop a few weeks earlier. It was nice dress. She was going to wear it to Founder's Day Gala. She would have been a shoe in for Miss Mystic Falls.

I sat next to her and we looked with pride upon the other passengers in the carriage. Across from us sat Benjamin and Matthew Bennet. Their mother and father had been burned as witches the week before, but, as per our agreement with Emily, Annabelle and I had snuck into their bedrooms in the middle of the night and snuck them into the woods while the Council was busy subduing their parents. After they were safe I tried to follow them and rescue Emily, but, by the time I found them, Emily's husband was already dead and the life was already being burned out of Emily herself.

"We're taking you to someone who can teach you your heritage," Annabelle told the Bennet boys as the carriage began to move away from the town, "It won't be the same as staying with your mom, but you'll make do for now."

The Bennet boys were eight and ten years old respectively. I'm pretty sure that they didn't get the implications of 'for now' at the time. It didn't really matter though, I'm pretty sure that Annabelle was talking to herself more than to them.

* * *

><p>After I had transitioned she had come to me in the middle of the night. She had been crying so hard that I could actually see the tears streaking down her fangs. I returned home in the night and had hardly been in my room for a moment when I heard something brush past my window and turned to see her standing there with her eyes cast to the ground and her wrists crossed at her waist.<p>

"They've been sealed in, Damon," she'd said between sobs.

I didn't really know what she was talking about. I had made the deal with Emily, but she had let me believe that she had been unable to uphold her end of the bargain. Even if she had told me that she had been successful, I had only made the deal in order to save Katherine.

"Who has been sealed in?" I asked stunned that she had come to me, "What are you talking about, Annabelle?"

"My mother," she said, "The other vampires. Emily has sealed them in a tomb and I can't get them out!"

She looked up at me and the tears in her eyes were so thick that I couldn't even see her eyes through the water. I don't know if you've ever seen Annabelle, but she's this tiny little thing and she was literally shaking. I couldn't help but feel for her. I held her to my chest and I told her that everything was going to be alright.

I heard her sniffle a little bit at this and I looked down to see that her eyes were staring up at me, wide as you're ever likely to see them and she looked so hopeful, but so broken. I smiled at her and she smiled a little bit back.

"Your mother is still alive," I said, "We'll make do for now and then someday we'll get our happy endings."

* * *

><p>Mystic Falls Present Day:<p>

"So, having done absolutely nothing to cheer up our temporary wards, Annabelle and I rode to Atlanta in the hopes of dropping the little shits off at the real life equivalent of Hogwarts," Damon said with a smirk, "And, when that turned out well, we headed north. We stuck with each other for awhile. Turned out she and I got along a lot better than you would expect."

"And then Emily screwed you both over," Caroline said with a smirk.

"Well that was quite a while later," Damon laughed, "And I'm still on the fence about whether I should go back on my side of the bargain."

"Shut up," Caroline said with a smile, laughing as she whacked Damon's shoulder, "You know you wouldn't."

"Maybe you're right," Damon smirked, "Maybe you're not. For now Judgy gets a free pass."

* * *

><p>The body hit the back of the truck with a clang as Stefan tossed it from the back door of the club. Another followed soon after it and joined the hundreds already piled in the back of the semi-truck that Stefan and Klaus were carting them into. There were only a few more left to deal with and Klaus' aggravation, he was sure, was showing.<p>

"I really should not need watch you every time, darling," he said to Stefan, "I _do_ have other things to tend to."

"Don't," Stefan said with a smirk, "We don't need a babysitter."

"You've wasted three nights worth of stock," Klaus said exasperated, "And, because I have been needed to clean up your messes, I have missed opportunities to draw in several packs. Several packs that may just prove the difference between success and failure, Stefan. You mustn't forget – ,"

"Would you shut up?"

* * *

><p>Danni looked over nervously as she heard Stefan impacting the side of the truck. Just as she was looking over Stefan pushed Klaus off of him and pinned him to side of the truck in his place. Klaus effortlessly picked up Stefan and whipped him around and threw him into the cargo hold where it looked like Stefan bounced off the room before Klaus climbed in after him.<p>

"They'll be fine," Daisy said, resting her hand comfortingly on Danni's, "That's just how they are."

Danni looked over to where Daisy was sitting, her legs crossed primly across each other and her butt just barely touching the milk crate that she was supposedly using for support. Behind her, Danni could see Magda nodding solemnly before another banging sound came from the truck and Magda flinched, got up and went to deal with the altercation.

"They'll be fine," Daisy repeated, "Really."

"How do you even know them?" Danni almost shouted, blushing when she realized how loud she had been.

"Stefan was my maker," Daisy said simply.

"But..." Danni tried to push.

"He saved my life," Daisy provided.

* * *

><p>Glasgow 1890:<p>

I was barely seventeen when a boy in the village convinced me that he loved me and that I loved him. Looking back on it, it was all a little bit bullshit. After about a month of convincing, he got me to join him at a tavern on the other side of town from where either of us lived. He got me in bed. He wasn't gentle. He wasn't careful. He wasn't the worst part of my night.

When I woke up I was alone in the bed except for a note which read something to the tune of 'I'm meeting my mates.' He had left me alone, with the only clothes I had with me torn at the edges and with the bill for the room left to be paid. I managed. I always manage. I grabbed a coat that someone had left on the tavern's coat rack and left a necklace that my lover had given me in lieu of money.

There was no way that I could find a way to pay my way home; I had no money on me and if I had hired a carriage to be paid upon my arrival my mother would have asked to many questions. So I set out on foot.

Every street provided me with a fresh lecher to taunt me while they passed on their merry way, but I was used to it by then. Men were no less tossers when I was human than they are now and I had been traveling in the company of the worst for some time at this point. So it wasn't until one of them actually made contact with me that I fought back.

A man that I had never met before had been following me for several streets and I had been trying to convince him to fuck off, but he kept on following me until finally he overtook me and pushed me into a dark alcove. Basically and alley. He pushed me up against a wall and he held a knife to my throat and he began trying to push aside my dress. He must have been drunk at this point, because there was hardly enough of my dress left to pose as much trouble as he was having.

I kicked him in the nuts. I never had any pretensions of being a well mannered lady. I kicked him in the nuts and bit into the hand that held the knife and tried everything that I could to get free of him, but he wouldn't let up on me. I think he had fairly worked out how to get me out of my dress when a hand descended on his shoulder and he was thrown across the alley.

A man was hunching over my attacker's prone form and I was still in too much shock to really pay attention to what he was doing. I walked over to the man to thank him for saving me, but when I got to him he turned his head to me and his eyes were red, the veins under them were pulsing, and he had fangs. I froze.

Stefan, because obviously this was Stefan, turned back to his meal and I walked over to the wall facing him and sat down and watched. I watched as he drained the man dry and I watched as he tore his arms off, and then his legs, tore his torso in half, pulled his spine out by the skull. I watched. Stefan turned to me next and I just watched.

He was like a cat. As I stared at him, he stared back, his eyes never blinking and his head tilting in curiosity. Eventually he bit into his own wrist and offered it to me. I knew what he was offering. I drank. He snapped my neck. I drank again. Then for almost thirty years we belonged to each other.

* * *

><p>Mystic Falls Present Day:<p>

"I think he's fallen asleep," Anna said with a little laugh while glancing out of the cell to where William sat against the far wall, his eyes shut and slight snore coming from him.

Jeremy watched as the breath from the snore made the little red wisps of hair that were encroaching on William's forehead wave and rise and fall.

"He's your dad?" Jeremy asked tentatively.

"No," Anna said softly, "He'd already been a vampire for a little while by the time I was born. Even he can't procreate with dead tissue."

"But he's your dad," Jeremy stated more firmly this time.

"Yeah," Anna said with a small smile, "The only one I've ever known."

"What happened between you?" Jeremy asked, "You said something to Damon about Monterrey?"

"Yeah," Anna said, "That was a long time ago."

* * *

><p>Monterrey 1910:<p>

After Damon and I left Mystic Falls we were more or less inseparable. We had done a stint in the Northern United States and then when we got bored there we traveled around Europe for a little while. We almost settled down in London, it would have been pretty easy for us to blend in to the big city, but after 1888 Damon started to get a little nervous that maybe Stefan had followed him, we only stayed for a few months after that before Damon was beyond persuading.

After that we didn't really stay anywhere for more than a few days. I began to get used to sleeping in inns or on ships or in carriages, just whenever we got a chance. After about twenty years of this we were on a ship that got becalmed in the Atlantic for three weeks. Damon and I tried the feed and compel technique for as long as we could, but crew began keeping to their cabins and locking their doors. It wasn't like they were actually needed at their posts.

On the sixteenth day Damon and I snapped. Our veins were in the early stages of drying up and we couldn't take it anymore. Before we knew what we were doing we had burst through every last door and drained the entire crew dry. When we came to Damon swore that he heard another vessel coming and we needed to cover up the killings. We set the ship on fire and abandoned. I never saw another vessel. We spent three days floating in the ocean.

On the third day we floated up on shore. We could still see the flaming husk of our ship, it was maybe five miles off shore. We were in Mexico. We call it Monterrey when we talk about it because at the time Monterrey was the closest settlement with a real name, but it wasn't actually Monterrey. It was actually pretty ridiculous how different the two were.

When we washed up on the beach it was completely empty. About five yards away we could see people going about their business in the "town proper", but the beach was completely deserted except for me and Damon laying face down in the sand.

Damon groaned and pushed himself up first.

"See what you've done now?" he said with his now trademarked smirk. No, really, he trademarked it in 1908. Alcohol and compulsion was involved.

"This is your fault, Damon," I replied without pushing myself up, "Did you really need to burn the life boats too?"

"Yes," Damon said with such confidence, "Yes, I did."

I rolled my eyes. Damon had tried to trademark that for me at the same time he had done his smirk. I had told him to shut up and deal with his own faux legalities and leave mine to me. I trademarked throwing Damon Salvatore through walls, it's still on record somewhere. I think I'm probably owed money into the millions at this point. We spent a lot of our time really drunk back then. We were just passing time until the comet passed over Mystic Falls again.

"I guess we should find somewhere to stay the night," Damon said with a shrug.

Without waiting for me he started walking off of the beach and into the little settlement. With a groan I pushed myself up and joined him. When I caught up with him he had just knocked on a tacked on door and was waiting for the occupant of the house to open the door.

The door opened and a middle aged man stood on the threshold. Damon smiled and held his hand out to the man, being very careful to stay as far away from the threshold as he could.

"Hello, do you speak English?" Damon asked.

The man shook his head.

"That's fine," Damon said, switching over to Spanish fairly seamlessly, "My friend and I were wondering if we could spend the night in the shelter of your lovely home."

"We have no rooms," the man said.

"We would be happy to sleep in a closet, in chairs, on the floor," Damon said, still smiling.

"We have no rooms," the man said again, "And we do not trust vampires."

Damon sighed and slumped down next to the door. He looked at me and shrugged. He turned up to look at the man on the other side of the door and smiled again.

"You know about vampires?" he asked.

"Yes," the man said simply.

"He knows about vampires," Damon said to me and then turned back to the man, "Do you know about compulsion?"

"Yes," the man said simply.

"He knows about compulsion," Damon said to me with a sigh and then turned back to the man, "Do you know about vervain?"

"What is vervain?" the man asked.

"That is what I thought," Damon said and gestured at the cross and garlic hung around the inside of the door.

"What is vervain?" the man asked again.

Damon did not answer the man, he simply looked the man in the eye and compelled him to invite us in for the night. Once we were over the threshold the man brought us to the rest of his family. Either none of the others realized that we were vampires or they weren't nearly as bigoted as the man was.

The man introduced himself as Casta. His wife very kindly introduced herself as Fernanda and introduced her teenage son as Alvaro and her little daughter as Esperanza. The girl very quickly huffed and walked up to Damon herself. She was this tiny little girl. I never worked it out for myself, but I'm pretty sure she wasn't more than two years old at this point, but she was standing looking at this strange man like he owed her his respect.

"My name is not Esperanza," she said firmly, "My name is Marcela."

"Is it?" Damon said with a smirk. I could already tell that he was in love with the little girl, "Then why did your mother say it was Esperanza?"

"Because that's what papa told her it was," Marcela said, "He says that I'm the hope of this family. This family doesn't need hope."

"It needs a warrior?" Damon asked with a chuckle.

"Yes," Marcela said firmly.

"Why?" Damon asked seriously.

* * *

><p>The town was being harassed by a group of bandits. It was actually a pretty simple problem, straight out of a cowboy or samurai film. Once a year the band would come into town and loot supplies and abduct any young women that they took a liking to. The women were usually found a few months later, wandering into town, dirty and unclothed and often a little bit out of their minds.<p>

I don't know how well you know this Damon, but he was a product of his times and he was also a product of his mother. There was no way that he was going to leave this town to fight it's own battles alone. And I had been right about Marcela. She escorted Damon everywhere that he went from that point on. We would see him walking down the street with this little girl waddling along beside him, her eyes scanning the horizon discerningly, while he made his way into the town square to buy our booze. She even provided a lookout while he fed, respecting his privacy by standing outside the door.

I was barely paying attention to their little performance. I was a little busy with my own escort. Young Alvaro had taken a little bit of a shine to me. He began courting me almost as soon as his father closed the door behind us on that first night and by the time the week was out there was no mistaking his intentions.

The year passed. The bonds were sealed. Even poor half compelled Casta began warming up to us. We changed the compulsion pretty early on so that he was simply incapable of outing us as vampires. That was just a little bit of a back up.

The bandits returned. There were only about a hundred of them and they were only human only armed with muskets. Damon and I sped through their ranks when they were still at the edge of the town and fed better than we had in the whole year.

Towards the end of the massacre Marcela waddled out to where we were and spotted a bandit taking a shot at Damon. She screamed at the top of her lungs and tossed a pebble at the man's head. It missed, but the scream had gotten the attention of him and one of his friends. The friend grabbed Marcela and threatened to kill her if Damon did not stand down.

Damon saw the sword at her throat and he lost his mind. He sped over to the man and I'm pretty sure that that was the first time that he put his fist through someone's chest. He came out with the man's heart and tossed it clear across the village.

A crowd had assembled at this point and they looked at us covered in the blood of the men who had been torturing them for years, with Marcela carefully cradled in the crook of Damon's arm and they let out a cheer. We were heroes. We were told that we would always be welcome in the village.

Damon and I began building our own little extension of our family's home and we settled there. Damon taught Marcela military strategy and simple combat and she became even more of a little body guard.

Six years passed in relative peace and we became a little bit comfortable in our new homes, but the thing is that people always love to spread amazing stories and the story of the two vampires who had saved a small town from roving bandits spread. The town was now being called Cosa del Santa Diablo by some of the people in Monterrey proper.

The story spread and that's how William found us again. He had been looking to find me again ever since Damon and I had left London. He had news.

* * *

><p>Mystic Falls Present Day:<p>

Caroline and Damon stopped at the front door of the Boarding House. She turned to him with a small smile on her face and brushed a little bit of dirt off of his shoulder.

"It sounds like you were so close," she said softly, "But when you came back here you came alone. You've never talked about her. All I knew about her was that Bonnie said that she was Jeremy's ex-girlfriend and that she had abducted Bonnie and Elena once."

"To get Pearl out of the tomb," Damon said quietly, "She loves her mother so much."

"But why did the two of you split apart?" Caroline asked.

"Short answer?" Damon asked.

"Fine."

"Stefan," Damon almost growled.

* * *

><p>Monterrey 1917:<p>

William showed up and dragged us away from home with promises of some half-assed lead on a way to get the Tomb open early. We were gone for six months with nothing to show for it. The witch that William had found gave him a grimoire, but the spell that he was hoping for wasn't in it. The two of us returned to Monterrey with the hope of peace in our hearts.

When we got there the streets were abandoned, but the scent of blood was thick in the air. I could feel Annabelle tensing and I knew she could smell it too. She began running to our house and shouting.

"Alvaro," she was calling out the name of her fiancee.

I wanted to call out for Marcela, but I knew that it wouldn't do any good. This was a dead town. The streets empty. The air silent. I followed silently behind Annabelle as she walked over the threshold into our home.

I was less surprised than I should have been when I found Stefan standing in the main room with blood caking over his mouth and his eyes as black as night. He held Alvaro by the throat under one arm and Marcela under the other. There was a tall blonde vampire girl with him and she was holding the rest of the family.

"Hello, brother," Stefan said with a smirk and then roughly readjusted his hold on his captives.

"What are you doing here, Stefan?" I asked him in a growl.

"Is it wrong for me to visit my family?" he asked.

Annabelle made a move forward and Stefan snapped Alvaro's head off of his neck like a particularly stubborn wine cork. The blood spurt across the room and onto the blonde girls face. She licked it off of her lips and grinned. Annabelle screamed and rushed at Stefan faster than he could react. She pushed Marcela out of the way and began beating Stefan into the ground.

The blonde girl snapped both necks in her hold and then grabbed onto Marcela before she could run. Marcela bit and scratched at her attacker. Tried to snap her arm in order to get out of her grip, but the blonde girl simply held on tighter. Marcela brought her head back into the girl's face and the woman growled and bit down into Marcela's neck and fed.

I rushed forward, snapped the woman's neck and then threw the woman savagely through the wall and then went to try to help Marcela, but the bleeding had already stopped. It had stopped because her heart was no longer beating. I waited hopefully for the signs that she was in transition, but they didn't come. When I finally took in my surroundings again it was to find Annabelle still beating on Stefan. His face was nearly unrecognizable as a face at this point and there were several broken pieces of wood sticking out of him at odd angles.

I went over and grabbed onto Annabelle and pulled her into a hug. It was the second time in my life that I had really seen her crying. I just gripped onto her and when I looked into her eyes it looked like she was so broken, so beaten down and tired.

* * *

><p>I didn't have it in me to kill Stefan. I never have and I probably never will, but I did find the rest of his victims in pieces in the town hall. I tied Stefan to a horse that we found in one of the stables, I figured that it's owner wouldn't be using it anymore. I tied the still unconscious Stefan to it and then set it meandering north.<p>

"I understand," Annabelle told me, "Why you didn't kill him, but I can't be around you right now."

"I understand," I responded in return.

"Where will you go now?" she asked quietly.

"I don't know," I said, "I hear I have family in Mystic Falls again. Maybe I'll go see if they have anything interesting to say."

* * *

><p>Mystic Falls Present Day:<p>

"And by next time I saw her 'Emily Bennet had screwed us over' as you so succinctly put it," Damon said, "When I found out that Anna had gotten Pearl, but I didn't get Katherine. I was so pissed that she got her happy ending."

"But she didn't," Caroline said softly.

"But she didn't," Damon confirmed.

"That story is terrible," Caroline said.

"You know there are a lot of theories about why I don't like Stefan. He thinks I promised him an eternity of misery because he forced me to transition, I told him that I promised him that eternity because it was supposed to be me and Katherine, but the reason that I will never forgive Stefan is that he killed that little girl and he's turned himself into that again and he's trying to blame it on me."

"Damon," Caroline said softly while rubbing his back.

"Never," Damon repeated.

* * *

><p>Danni and Daisy sat on top of the soon to be ex-corpses in the back of the truck. Klaus and Stefan were up in the cab of the truck, but the girls had been relegated to this literal heap of flesh.<p>

"So Stefan was your maker," Danni said, "You traveled with each other for awhile and then you lost him?"

"I didn't lose him," Daisy said, "He's not a set of car keys. He was taken from me."

* * *

><p>Monterrey 1917:<p>

It was day when I awakened. The sun was burning at my skin so I retreated into the still burning husk of one of the houses and I stayed there until night fell again. There was not sign of Stefan in the town. I had seen the two vampires who had separated us walking off in separate directions at sometime around noon, but there was nothing I could do about that.

I was still hiding out in the village, waiting, three days later when Klaus arrived. He had heard about a pair of vampires that had been hiding out in the town and then when he had come down to investigate he had heard about a ripper that torn the entire town to shreds. He found me and asked me where me minder was.

"Has he left you, my sweet?" he said with a smile.

"He wouldn't have," I said firmly, "He wouldn't."

"Was he the one who destroyed the village, then?" he asked.

"Yes," I replied and then added pitifully, "I helped."

"I would be interested in meeting this vampire," he said, "he might prove to be useful."

* * *

><p>AN: You'll have noticed that Stefan didn't actually get much to say in this chapter. I purposely avoided giving Stefan control of any of the flashbacks, because honestly he's had control of the narrative of the pre-series a little bit too much. Also, I very much doubt that Ripper!Stefan, or at least my Ripper!Stefan, is really up for reminiscing.

Also, I'm pretty sure that I left out a few of the things that I intended to put in, this was going to be more scene and less summary, but the voices kind of leant themselves to this style I think. I'll probably fill out bits of the back story more in later chapters.


	9. Habeas Corpses

Chapter 9: Habeas Corpses

Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries. I'm not making money off of writing this.

AN: I noticed on a read through that I accidentally changed the name of Klaus' witch in the most recent chapter. I'm pretty sure that I started out using TV cannon and then, without my realizing it, alternate fan cannon infiltrated my mind. Not sure which name I'm going to stick with. I'll see what my reflexes do.

I know this has been a long time coming, but other things took over my life for awhile and then when things slowed down I became bed ridden. I've literally had the first two scenes of this chapter written down for six months. I'm hoping that I'll be able to be more regular now.

Anyway. Sorry for the wait. Thanks for the reviews. On with the show.

Enjoy.

* * *

><p>"You could help out, you know," Matt's voice echoed irritably through the misty graveyard as he lifted his shovel-load of dirt and then prepared another strike at the ground.<p>

"I could," Damon replied, "But I see myself more keeping watch."

"Don't you have like super strength or something," Matt shot back, "You could probably be done by now if you were digging on your own."

As Matt talked, Damon noticed Liz shooting him a worried look from her position behind Matt in the hole they were digging. He wondered briefly what exactly the look was about. He wondered briefly about exactly how much Caroline and her mother talked.

"But then you wouldn't get that workout that you so clearly need for your sports scholarship," Damon internally groaned at that awkward snipe, but found his mouth continuing anyway, "What do you play again? Hockey? Golf? Is there a stick involved? I feel like there's a stick involved."

"Only the one shoved up your ass," Matt laughed, "Come help me dig up my sister's corpse so we can get her spirit out of my ex-girlfriend's brother."

Damon and Liz both looked at Matt like he had lost his mind. No broody stomping off. No fear. No anger. And it had all been very...

"That was very...expositional," Damon said, "And surprisingly good humoured considering you're in a graveyard, digging up your sister while talking to the vampire that you apparently think killed her. Add that to the fact that you've never really been real good with the whole supernatural thing, or so Barbie says, and...what?"

Liz was shooting Damon dirty looks now. He wasn't sure he liked that much better than the worried looks he had spotted before, but he was more used to them.

"It's totally fine," Matt said with a grin, "You've explained how you didn't kill her and pretty soon she won't even be dead anymore. I think my problem with the supernatural was that it never gave me anything but problems, but now it's giving me my sister back."

"Just a heads up," Damon said, "She'll still be an un-trained, really hungry, baby-vamp when we put her back in her body. Or at least that's the current theory. You're going to have to be careful around her, not everyone is as easy to potty-train as Barbie."

"I've dealt with addicts before, Damon," Matt said with a smile, "And I've dealt with vampires. I'll deal. Now you dig."

"Fine," Damon said, "You two are taking too long anyway. I've got family trapped in that cell too, you know. Why are humans always stalling."

* * *

><p>"Subtle lines, Warlock," William shouted, "We are extricating spirits, not playing hopscotch."<p>

"These lines will work just fine," Bonnie yelled in frustration, "My grams taught me how to build a pentagram."

"It worked out well for her, did it?" William responded, "We'll have to hose that down and start over. Typical warlock. Never any patience."

"Why do you keep calling me that?" Bonnie huffed, "I thought warlock meant a boy witch."

"A male witch is called a witch," William returned, "I'm sure it is a very common misconception among infants. There are very few of the magically inclined who are not warlocks these days. The mystical contract is no longer given any respect."

"What does that even mean?" Bonnie threw down her chalk and walked over to the cell, looking in briefly to check that Jeremy/Anna/Vicki was asleep.

"When you perform magic you are entering into a contract with the spirits whose power you are harnessing," William began with a sigh, "I'm sure some ancestor of yours has tried to ingrain you with the mystical balance that you are meant to maintain. Much of that has to do with keeping up your end of the bargain. Warlock means oathbreaker. Modern witches usually reserve the term for those who do not give payment in exchange for their magic, but any promise, any deal magical or otherwise is infinitely more important as a witch. If you break your pledge it changes the way that your magic works. The powers with whom you deal can sense it and that is when you begin to pay for your work."

"The nosebleeds? The headaches?" Bonnie asked shocked, "My grams' death?"

"Most likely," William said tersely, "That is why I try not to make promises that I can't keep. Or any promises at all. I couldn't even survive as a vampire if I was a warlock as well. Either my life or my magic would abandon me."

"Well how do I fix it?" Bonnie asked.

"There's no way as far as I know,"William said with an unconcerned shrug, "Now redraw those lines."

"Aren't you two done with that yet?" came Damon's drawl from the steps, "Maybe I should have just let Captain America dig this up."

Out of the shadows Vicki Donovan's body came flying through the air and landed with a thump in front of Bonnie who jumped back in fright. Damon soon followed with a calm gait, carrying a coffee can labeled 'Anna' that he carefully placed on the floor next to the body.

"You store my daughter's ashes in can of coffee?" William asked as he carefully redrew the lines of the circle.

"I rinsed it out first," Damon said with a shrug, "And if all goes well she won't be in there long."

"In that case, prepare the vessel," William said.

"That would be Baby Gilbert, right?" Damon asked.

William shot him a look.

"Right. I'll get on that," Damon said.

* * *

><p>Carol Lockwood's day was fairly straightforward. She left her house almost daily at the same time, she went directly to Town Hall, where she spent the majority of her day berating various town employees and officials for not doing the little jobs around town that she was supposed to be doing. She took a break for lunch at around 1pm, for the last few days she had been joined by her son, lately returned from running away to god knows where and for some reason not yet returned to school. Finley Jackson had noticed that school attendance was down across the board.<p>

As he watched Carol and Tyler Lockwood digging into their steaks, Jackson made a note to check school attendance to see if there were any students who were consistently not showing up to the primarily daytime institutions and took a bite out of his own cheeseburger. He should probably check out anybody that the mayor had on a night shift as well. Night coroner, night deputies, janitors, bartenders, and all.

Had the previous Mayor Lockwood ever come out during the day? No one had really been paying attention to him at the time. Many of the members of the council had grown up with him living just a few houses down. However, those same council members had grown up with Logan Fell babysitting their little brothers and sisters. Vampires were made, not born.

Tyler made some sort of excuses to his mother and left the diner. Carol took twenty minutes to finish her meal and then left as well. Jackson waited to the count of ten before following her route away from the Grill. Usually, after lunch she would return to Town Hall, berate some more people and then go home for dinner at around 6pm. Today, she left her car outside of the Grill and walked to what passed for Mystic Falls' warehouse district.

When she got to her destination she was met by a man in his early thirties with a full, dark beard and short wavy hair. He was only a few inches taller than the mayor, but he held himself with a confidence that gave him another foot in appearance. In the shade that was provided by the overhang that they were standing under, Jackson could not make out his face, and he didn't get a chance at a better look as the man faded away into the shadows and the mayor turned to go back the way she had come. The way Jackson had come. Jackson flattened himself behind the nearest building and watched as the mayor walked back into town.

* * *

><p>"We could train them," Caroline whispered quietly as she, Damon, and Alaric crept through the woods.<p>

Damon rolled his eyes. He knew that technically she was right and he knew why she kept bringing it up (twelve times now), but they all also knew the problems that were inherent in the plan. Many of these problems he knew she knew because he had told them to her several times already.

"House training, Barbie," Damon said out of the corner of his mouth.

"They were people, Damon," Caroline huffed, "They didn't have a choice. Vicki took that away from them."

"They had a choice," Damon shot at her, "Vicki turned them, but she didn't make them vampires. They did that themselves. She didn't shove the human blood down their throats, they did that on their own. If they had made the choice not to transition, we wouldn't be here right now."

"You didn't kill me," Caroline said softly.

Damon was silent. He hadn't been expecting quite that rebuttal, because he had tried to kill her and from there the story was that the only reason that he hadn't was that Elena and Stefan had gotten in his way.

The longer it went on the heavier the silence became. Damon could feel Caroline refusing to look at him. He could feel Ric doing nothing but. He could hear all of their steps becoming slower and less sure of themselves. Finally, he felt Ric's gaze lifted from him and the hunter broke the silence.

"Caroline, you know he woul –," Ric began.

"Barbie, the only reason you aren't dead is that Stefan promised that he would deal with you himself. He wanted to keep you, and feed you, and keep you from peeing on the sofa, but Stefan isn't here this time and even when he was –," Damon interupted.

"–you wound up doing most of the work," Caroline and Ric finished in unison.

Damon glared at both of them and growled in frustration when they just laughed in response. He watched the treeline as Caroline tripped over her own feet in laughter and Ric bent over to help her up. He could have this one. He was closer.

"We'll have our hands full with Baby Gilbert's imaginary friend," Damon said, "And I'm still not happy with the last stray that you brought home. Or do you not remember that he had rabies?"

"People, Damon," Caroline said.

"Junkies, Barbie," Damon insisted.

"Conjecture, Ass-hat," Caroline shot back.

"Big word," Damon said, "Do you know what it means?"

"Do you?" Caroline asked, sticking out her tongue.

"I'm a high-school teacher. I'm not supposed to have to give time-ou–," Ric was cut off by a vampire leaping out of the darkness and Damon pushing him out of the way and shoving a stake through the vampire's chest.

"Next one of you that suggests adopting these guys doesn't get saved," Damon said as three more vampires sped into sight and Damon started killing them.

* * *

><p>The tomb was dark.<p>

The sunlight was still filtering through the trees and the debris above, but it just barely breached the first foot of the tombs interior. Tyler made a note to buy lighting for future full moons. It was too late now. The entire pack was filing through the stone doorway in preparation for the full moon beginning in a little over a half an hour. Some of the pack had scoffed when they had been told that they wouldn't be running free under the moon's light.

Tyler had assured them that Damon would kill them. Damon would kill his own grandmother if she got in the way of whatever he had planned. The wolves who hadn't been convinced by Tyler's reassurances had been convinced when Bonnie brought them to the ground with a thought. She had stared down at the five wolves writhing in pain with no pity.

"No more warnings," she had said coldly.

Those had been the first five wolves through the door to the tomb this evening. Tyler had been the last. He had hoped that Caroline would have come by to wish him luck. He had hoped that Jeremy would have wanted to welcome him back to town. Hell he would have settled for scary Damon at this point. Anything for a familiar face, but Bonnie had left hours ago with a reminder of what would happen if the wolves broke the compact and no one else had come.

"Come on, kid. We're losing daylight," Ray called from just inside the tomb's entrance, "I can't believe I just said 'losing daylight'. Get the hell in here. I don't think your scary friends were kidding and moonrise is in five minutes."

Tyler took one more glance around the edge of the crater that the tomb entrance was in and then backed into the tomb. He could feel the magic passing over his skin as he passed the threshold. He was in for the night. That's when the moans from behind him started.

The moon was up.

* * *

><p>"Dead," Damon said as he walked down the steps to the Boarding House cellar, "I counted thirty, Barbie counted twenty-five, Ric was unconscious after five, but I figure it's not the biggest disaster if we lose a couple and the Council can get an accurate count when they're cleaning up the corpses."<p>

"Weren't you wearing a different shirt when you left," William observed from his position by the cell door.

"Yeah, and I liked that shirt. One of those fuckers was trying to claw me to death," Damon groaned, "Remind me to kill Vicki when she's alive again."

"NO!" came a cry from the cell.

"I'm going to assume that the cry of pestering conscience comes from Baby Gilbert," Damon rolled his eyes, "Might I remind you that, the last time that particular ex-girlfriend was among the semi-living, she tried to kill you and your sister and that in the last few days she has killed and turned twenty-five slash thirty or so drunks and druggies."

"Stealing your thunder, Damon?" came a slightly more mocking version of the same voice.

"Yes!" Damon yelled, "Dead druggies are my thing, dead carnies and deputies are Barbie's, dead forest animals were Stefan's thing, I don't know what the hell you were doing the last year you were alive, but Vicki fucking Donovan is not allowed to steal my thunder."

"Damon...," came a voice from the darkness. Desperate. Pleading.

"Fuck it," Damon sighed, "I don't have time for this. Captain America will turn on us if I _do_ kill his sister this time, Barbie will never shut up if Captain America turns on us, the Sheriff will shoot me if Barbie never shuts up, and I honestly don't give a shit. If she stays out of my way..."

"Thank you."

"Oh. Shut up. If she eats her brother, you get to tell Barbie that I warned everyone."

* * *

><p>The camp was full of a multitude of men and women writhing around on the ground, every bone in their body breaking and reforming and one Klaus looking down on them in mild curiosity. He had never seen quite this many wolves gathered in one place on the full moon before. It was a bit exhilarating, but at the same the time, the writhing was making it difficult for him to take an accurate headcount. He kept losing count at one hundred and fifty.<p>

And everyone kept telling him that werewolves were rare.

Giving up on the nights attempts at accounting, Klaus shrugged and shifted gracefully into his wolf form and waited patiently with his head resting on his forepaws as his pack continued their transition. The moon was quite lovely tonight. He wondered what that smell was. It smelled like food. Rabbit? Deer? Oh. There was running water somewhere nearby. He _was_ a little bit thirsty.

Klaus felt something brush up against his side and turned his head a fraction to see another wolf resting next to him. She was also watching the pack transform. An half formed idea passing through his mind, Klaus nudged his playmate with his muzzle and then took off running through the clearing, rejoicing when he heard the paw pads behind him.

They had been playing for what felt like hours when Klaus looked up and found that his pack was all finally there. They all watched him with rapt attention. Apparently they already knew that he was the alpha. That was quick and easy.

Klaus led his pack through the woods and towards the nearest town. The pack marched loyally behind him. Wave after wave of them. Occasionally a few would break off for a few moments to chomp on the other animals of the forest, but the waves always crashed back together. All of them. Klaus kept losing count at one hundred and fifty.

* * *

><p>Vicki Donovan's corpse was placed very carefully in the middle of the pentagram that William had drawn. The pentagram was surrounded by blood, and vervain, and wood, and fire, and the two casters at the fifth point. Damon stood at the ready, a stake in one hand, a bag of blood in the other and, when Damon gave the signal that anyone that Vicki was likely to kill was out of earshot, William and Judgy began the chanting that would pull the spirit out of it's current vessel and back into it's own body.<p>

Damon watched as the veins on the corpse regrew pale grey flesh. Then watched as that flesh became veiny. Then watched as the blood crept across the floor to the body and the veins faded and the skin became more flesh colored. He listened as William and Judgy stopped chanting.

Then Vicki sat up, gasping for air, and began flitting around the room at vampire speed, trying to find a way out. Damon rushed over to grab her, to pull her out into the night air, but just as he got his hands around her arm she stopped gasping and calmed down. She looked around the room in confusion.

"God damnit, Katherine" Damon shouted to the ceiling.

William and Bonnie looked at Damon in confusion. Vicki backed against wall and her eyes widened at him. Damon looked at all of them and rolled his eyes at how stupid they all were.

"So," he said calmly, "Elena's dead."

* * *

><p>AN: Not sure how happy. It's shorter than the previous chapter, but I believe longer than some of the others.

Sorry again that it took so long. I was just so caught up in the plan for what happens after this. Plus other obligations. Plus sick. And then more other obligations. Then got caught up in starting another fic. Then just yea. I should be back on track now.

I'm really not sure how happy I am with the title of this chapter, but I was pretty happy with it at 4am (15mins ago), so we'll see how that works out for me.


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